All the Pieces
by anibutterfly
Summary: Naruto's having weird dreams as he and Sakura are investigating criminal activity in Sunagakure. As events start linking, he realizes the world he lives in is more complex than he could've ever imagined. Sequel to my "Secret Friend of the Past" fic. NO PAIRINGS except the ones between my OCs, and the romance will not be explored. Yes this has OCs.
1. Prologue

**So here it is: My completely rewritten version of All the Pieces! I'll upload the chapters as I finish editing them.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Every world has laws that aren't meant to be broken. Even a tiny crack in the surface can set off a chain of events marring the whole picture. The events don't have to be big, though they often are. The worlds are so closely tied that even just damaging the tiniest pieces can eventually break the entire puzzle. Of course, no one ever heeds that warning. People get ambitious. They break things without realizing exactly what they've disturbed until it's too late. The good news is for people who break the laws there's always other people who reinforce them. For in the end everything is balanced so the universe doesn't fall apart. In other words, don't play with fire. You'll only get burned. - Tallah<p> 


	2. Weird Dream and Assignment

**This takes place right after the Pain vs. Naruto arc and right before the Kage Summit Arc. Figuired it'd be a good place to put it since this is where all the fillers are in the anime. If y'all have any questions or comments feel free to review! No flames please. If you're going to comment I would prefer praise or constructive criticism. If you don't like the story click the wonderful little invention called the back button. There's no need to be rude about someone else's hard work. **

* * *

><p>Naruto was in the dark standing on water. He looked around in confusion. The black space surrounding him resembled a never ending sphere containing nothing save the water rippling under every step he took. The water was as black as the space surrounding him, and for some reason wouldn't reflect anything. How strange. Despite not knowing where he was, Naruto found that he felt neither threatened nor frightened by the situation. He had explored his own consciousness enough to realize he was obviously dreaming. However, despite the odd conditions of the dream, he felt strangely calm.<p>

Naruto studied the area more in fascination. As he stared into the vast expanse he realized the landscape was actually familiar. He'd had this dream the other night. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but then again the dream hadn't really lasted long in the first place. He began to walk, suddenly not as comfortable as he had been before. Naruto shuddered unconsciously as he trekked further into his mind. Even though the space seemed empty he couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. He began sweating involuntarily as the source of this unease hit him. He wasn't alone. He kept walking slowly watching the darkness around him for any signs or movement. He clutched his kunai seeking out the threat when he heard a voice that was almost a whisper in the darkness.

"**Naruto.**"

Naruto stilled and combed the area looking for the voice's origin. He growled in frustration seeing nothing but darkness. Where was the voice coming from?

"**Naruto.**"

He whirled around still looking for the voice's unidentified origin. "Alright, who are you?!" he commanded in a threatening manner. "What do you want?!" "**…hurry…**" The voice whispered more urgently. It had said other things as well, but he could only make out the one word. "What do you mean hurry?" He demanded. "Where are you? Stop being a coward and get out here!"

The whispered answers were so soft he couldn't even hear them. He whipped around trying to find the source somewhere, anywhere! Without warning a shockwave hit Naruto and he doubled over in pain clutching his head. Images seemed to explode in the water beneath him. He saw a blue sky, grassy hills, a waterfall, the dark woods, and a figure in shadow laughing then screaming while the dragon wings encircling her arm stood out like a beacon. He cringed under the weight the images seemed to carry. His body seized up and he felt as though they would rip him apart. Through all this he faintly heard the intruder utter one last thing.

"…**out of time.**"

"Aargh!" Naruto bolted upright in his bed panting. Sweat covered his pillow making it clammy and unpleasant. The window revealed the touches of dawn hitting Konohagakure so it was probably around 4:00 in the morning. He glanced at the picture of the old Team 7 on his bedside table and listened to the crickets chirp for a moment. He rubbed his eyes trying to calm himself and noticed his hands were shaking. He eased his shocked body by taking deep breaths in and out. It was just a dream. Naruto rolled back over even though it was obvious he wouldn't get anymore sleep.

* * *

><p>A few hours later he was in a book store of all places with Sakura and Sai. He knew they were just trying to cheer him up since his master, Jiraiya, was dead and he had just finished facing Pain a week earlier. Sakura had already bought him all he could eat at Ichiraku's, after threatening him if he made her use all her money of course, and promised to cook him something decent later. He hoped she wouldn't use his fatigue as an excuse to try and get him to clean his apartment. She still hadn't forgiven him for tripping on a ramen bowl in his bedroom when she came to visit. He watched as she nonchalantly picked up a book and muttered "Oh look they finally released the next one." Sai was observing the two as usual with his creepy blank expression. "Oi Naruto," he said suddenly. "You look depressed today. Is your equipment not working right?" Naruto looked up and glared at his socially inept teammate. "You keep making comments like that I'm gonna punch you through a window Sai." Sai blinked and Sakura sweat dropped. "Y'know Naruto," she said putting her hands up in a calming posture. "Sai isn't completely wrong. You do look more tired than usual."<p>

Naruto blinked at his less annoying teammate wondering if he should tell her about his dream. He knew it was just a dream, maybe even a nightmare, but something about the voice made him want to keep the contents secret. "I had a weird dream and couldn't get back to sleep. That's all. Plus I have a headache." Thankfully she didn't pry. "Well, if the headache gets really bad just let me know and maybe I can get something from the hospital to help you. How about we get out of here and just walk around for a while? Fresh air will probably help some." Naruto nodded. "Sure. Thanks Sakura." She simply smiled as they headed out the door.

However, the three were greeted with a surprise as Shikamaru approached them. Sakura greeted their lazy friend. "Shikamaru! What's up?" Shikamaru regarded the three with a bored expression. "So troublesome," he said. "Shizune wanted to brief you and Naruto about something right away. She's in Tsunade's tent. Sorry Sai. She doesn't need you." Sai nodded and disappeared. Sakura turned to Naruto confused. Naruto shrugged.

The three made it to the tent where Shizune was treating the comatose Tsunade. Shizune looked up when they entered leaving Shikamaru to guard the entrance. "Oh good you're here," she said. Naruto looked her over. She didn't look like she'd gotten any more sleep than he had. "What did you need to tell us Shizune-san?" Sakura asked. Shizune looked troubled as she relayed the information to them. "Gaara contacted us through a messenger this morning. It seems there have been some thefts in the archives in Sunagakure. He is concerned these thefts are actions meant to help provoke war." Naruto was confused. "So they've been stealing from their archives, so what? Why does he think they want war or whatever?"

Shizune rubbed her head. "The thefts are scattered and very small scale. Gaara only realized what was happening a few days ago and there's been no evidence left behind other than the missing pieces from their archives." "So they're ninja." Sakura reasoned. Naruto narrowed his eyes. "That still doesn't explain why he thinks it's an act of war." Sakura rolled her eyes. "Did Gaara explain what they've been stealing?" she asked Shizune. Shizune nodded her head. "It seems like they've been looking for something inside the archives themselves. Gaara said many of the scrolls taken are pointless and he firmly believes it's a cover for whatever they're really after." "Does he have any leads?" Sakura asked again concerned. "What's in the archives aside from the documents?"

Shizune frowned. "That's the trouble. The archives themselves were adapted shortly after the death of the Sage of Six Paths as a dying wish. Every Ninja village has five scattered in different locations around them." "What does that have to do with anything?" Naruto impatiently interrupted. Shizune glared at him. "If you'd let me finish, most of the early records detailing what the archives contained are for the Kage's eyes only, and many of them were destroyed in the Third Shinobi War. Not all of the pieces in every archive and in every village have been accounted for yet even though it's been quite a few years." "Meaning?" Naruto questioned. Sakura smacked him in head sending him realing. "Meaning, you idiot, that there are probably a lot of scrolls and artifacts in the archives that no one knows about. There could be information on bringing down Sunagakure!" she yelled at him. Naruto rubbed the back of his head and glared at Sakura. "You could've just told me that instead of slamming my head into the ground! Anyway, wouldn't Gaara know about all that stuff since he's the Kazekage?"

Shizune spoke up. "Normally he would, but information on the archives is not passed down to a Kage until they have served four years as leader. Gaara has only served two." Naruto frowned. "So what is it exactly that he wants us to do? There's not much we can help with if we don't know what they're after." Shizune sent him another glare. "He doesn't want Danzo getting a hold of any of this information since the man is currently under suspicion. As two of the most trusted Shinobi in Konohagakure, regarding our allies in Sunagakure, I want you and Sakura to research these thefts in the files Gaara sent. I need you two to help me determine whether or not these people are a serious threat to the other villages as well as the Sand." His teammate nodded at her mentor. "We'll get right on it Shizune." Naruto grumbled his agreement and the two headed off with the files to do some digging. "Good luck you two," Shizune said as they exited.

* * *

><p><strong>One week later<strong>

Naruto was exhausted. He'd had little to no sleep in the past week because of his dreams. They were always the same. He'd run around trying to find the voice only to be assaulted with images of Konoha and a black-haired girl. Most of the images were of her smiling and laughing. Though the shadow no longer covered her, the face was still blurred aside from her smile. It bothered him because it felt like he should know who the girl in the images was. He hadn't told anyone yet because he couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was going on needed to stay private. Besides, if he could figure out what was going on himself he could solve the problem without having to involve anyone.

On top of that, he and Sakura were still investigating the thefts in Sunagakure. They had been slaving over the papers for almost a week, and there just wasn't much to offer on the thieves. The documents contradicted any indication that this was the work of one person. Whoever these people were they were very thorough. All the eye witnesses, namely the guards, were knocked out before anyone could see them and they were gone with whatever documents went missing. All they knew about what had been stolen was that they were all documents or books of some kind. The people who worked in the outposts weren't even sure what any of them contained. Naruto found this annoying. Shouldn't the people who were guarding this stuff know what was in it?

The only real thing he and Sakura had resolved was that the person or people responsible weren't linked to Madara. The new Akasuki he was overseeing liked to make a big scene and always left eye witness accounts. Besides, Sasuke wouldn't have left without taunting Gaara. These attacks were too careful and thorough. They were still speculating on whether or not Danzo was involved. However, the situation was just as Shizune had informed them. The thieves had literally left no trace behind wherever they went. Not even a piece of clothing or a fingerprint. Naruto threw the paper he was looking at down in frustration. Sakura looked up from her seat across the table. "No luck?" She asked. Naruto growled. "No. You?" Sakura sighed. "No. All this information is saying is everything we already know. They came, knocked the guards out or the guards didn't see anything, and took off without any evidence left behind. Same account at the other four places they already robbed."

Sakura put down the papers and propped her face on her fist. She looked down at the papers Naruto had thrown on the table. She eyed one of them curiously. "Naruto, what's that paper there on the bottom?" Naruto picked up the paper she had indicated. "This? It's just a list of the archives and which ones were robbed so far." Sakura held out her hand. "Here let me look at it. If we're lucky we might be able to find a trend in the attacks." Naruto scoffed. "You mean besides the fact they're all top facilities that shouldn't be able to be breached in the first place?" Sakura smiled. "Just give me the paper idiot." Naruto handed the paper over to her and rested his head down on the table. "Naruto?" He opened his eyes to see Sakura looking at him in concern. "Is your head any better?" He thought about lying to her. "Not really, but don't worry about it Sakura. It's not like I can't handle a little pain." He knew Sakura wasn't buying it, but she went back to looking at the paper anyway. Her eyes suddenly stopped near the bottom of the page and she frowned. "That's weird." Naruto sat up. "What is it?"

Sakura rummaged through some more papers. She frowned even more. "Why in the world…?" he heard her mutter. She stood up and sorted through the papers they had thrown on the floor. "Huh. This is so strange." Naruto was on the edge with curiosity. After a few minutes with no response from her Naruto finally said, "Well are you gonna tell me or do I have to grab the paper from you?" Sakura looked up. "Oh sorry. Look at this." She held up the paper to him and pointed at one of the locations. "This list has Sunagakure's jail as one of the places they broke into besides the archives." Naruto wrinkled his face. "Why would they break into a jail?" Sakura looked at him as if he was missing something obvious.

"What?" he asked annoyed.

"Naruto, why do people normally break into a jail?"

"That's a stupid question. To break people out…oh!"

"Sometimes I wonder how you're still alive."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her. Sakura rolled her eyes. "Well, aren't you mature?" she said sarcastically. "This could be important, but this is so bizarre." Naruto looked at his friend in confusion. "What is?" She got up off the floor and showed him the other sheet she had been puzzling over. "This is a list of the items stolen and from where, but I don't see any prisoners listed here. It doesn't say they broke anyone out." "That is weird. It's not like Gaara's people to leave out information like that." Sakura frowned. "I know. That's what worries me. We should go tell Shizune about this."

* * *

><p>After explaining what they had discovered, Shizune was just as puzzled as they were. "You're saying there was nothing at all on that list about anyone being broken out of the jail?" "Why would we be telling you if it was otherwise?" Naruto muttered sarcastically. Sakura stamped on his foot. Naruto yelped. "Yeouch!" Sakura glared at him. "Be polite you idiot." She addressed Shizune. "None at all even though it was on the list of facilities they broke into." Shizune looked worried. "This is a troubling matter. I'll have a messege sent to Gaara right away and tell him to have the guards make sure no one is missing. I'll notify you two as soon as I get a response."<p>

Naruto groaned. "Perfect. More waiting." To his surprise Sakura turned to him and said, "Naruto it's about time for dinner so why don't we go to Ichiraku's to celebrate the break through?" Any aggravation or stress he had been feeling suddenly flew away and he could feel his face light up. "I'm there!" He could hear Sakura laughing at him as he rushed out the tent door. He had made it to the street by the time Sakura caught up with him. She grabbed his arm. "Hold up and wait for me!" She yelped. Naruto froze. Not because of Sakura, but because he was assaulted with an image. He could see the black-haired girl whose face was shadowed again. She grabbed his arm pulling him to a hault. _"Wait for me would ya? My Dad's gonna be mad if we get caught! " _He grabbed her wrist pulling her along faster, and then he was back in the street with Sakura.

Naruto clenched his head and groaned. Sakura was concerned again. "Naruto are you sure you're ok?" He shook the headache off as best he could. He straightened back up and smiled at her. "Of course I'm ok. I'm about to have Ichiraku's!" Sakura stared at him awhile. "Fine," She finally said. "Let's go." Naruto grinned running the rest of the way to the restaurant. He had his usual bowl of ramen and ate it happily. When they left, Sakura turned to face him. "I'll come by your house in the morning." She said. "It'll be more convenient for Shizune if we're in the same place when she summons us."

Naruto chuckled at the sudden memory of her slipping on a ramen bowl in his bedroom. "Alright. Just remember you enter at your own risk." She smirked. "Believe me, it's hard not to remember that when it comes to your house cleaning skills." Naruto laughed and waved goodbye as they headed in opposite directions to go home. When he got there he drifted off into a for once dreamless sleep. Yeah, he wished.

* * *

><p><strong>So there's my new and improved first chapter! Just in case you didn't notice in the description, My Secret Friend of the Past fanfic is the prequel fic for this one. So if you haven't read it please do. My four main OCs are introduced in that story. There are a grand total of 8 OCs in here by the way. Anyway, feel free to leave a comment or question in reviews please. I appreciate constructive criticism, and if you don't care for the story simply click the back button. :)<strong>


	3. Some Interesting Info

**For those of you who didn't read my description for this story very carefully. Yes this has OCs eventually. Also, I clearly say in the description that there are no pairings except for the ones I've established between my OCs. This is not a romance story, nor is romance something I intend to focus on predominately at any time in this story. **

* * *

><p>He was having the dream again. It was the same as usual. Just complete darkness with a ripple over the water as he walked. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for the usual assault of images in his head. After a minute he frowned. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes. Everything was still. Deathly still. "Hey!" he called. "Is anybody there?!" His question we met with silence. Ok so maybe he was crazy and had just been hallucinating and made a bigger deal out of this than necessary? "HEY!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "ARE YOU THERE OR DID YOU JUST GET TIRED OF TORTURING ME?!" That's when he felt it.<p>

Oh God he felt it. Massive amounts of chakra coming from everywhere. He hadn't wanted to throw up this bad since his first mission where they faced Zabuza. Suddenly the ground around him erupted. Walls shot up in every direction making him lose his balance and fall to the ground. When he looked up he realized he was fenced in on three sides and the walls that had sprung up from the ground had made a maze. "What the hell!" he yelled. This definitely wasn't any dream. Whoever was doing this was real, and they were inside his mind.

"**Naruto."** his blood froze. He could hear the voice very clearly. A lot more clearly than any of the other times he had been dreaming. He cursed. He began running, but it was useless. No matter where he ran or how many times he punched or kicked a wall it was useless. He even used his clone jutsu to try and find the exit, but they all got turned around. He deactivated the jutsu, whipped around, and punched the closest wall. He cursed again as the pain shot through his hand.

How in the world was he supposed to get out of here? Whoever this person was they had literally trapped him inside his own mind. He needed help as much as he hated to admit it. There was only that option left, and he thanked his lucky stars that at least he was in his own mind. "Hey, Kyuubi! Help me get the hell out of here!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. The fox didn't answer. "Wha…? Hey where are you? You're usually begging me to borrow your power so you can taunt me by now!" There was still no answer. It was then that Naruto realized exactly how much trouble he was in. He couldn't feel the evil fox's chakra at all. He could only feel the foreboding chakra of his intruder. **"Are you done panicking?"** the voice said scaring him and making him curse.

There were two things he could tell now that he hadn't been able to before. 1) The speaker was a woman. He had heard enough of Sakura's sarcasm to know that much. 2) Whoever it was had a freakin butt load of chakra at their disposal. He was nervous, but it was too late to back down now. The voice gave an exasperated sigh. **"If you want to talk that's fine, but you don't have to yell. I can hear your big mouth just fine." **Naruto glared at the air. "Who are you?!" He demanded. "Why are you in my head?!"

"**You know who I am."**

"The hell I do!"

"**At least a part of you does…"**

"What?"

"**You haven't been wondering about all the images you've been seeing?"**

"Why can't you just tell me since you seem to know so much about it?! And what was all that stuff about needing to hurry, and being out of time huh?!"

She didn't answer. Naruto gritted his teeth, and asked his next question carefully. "Where's the Kyubi? He's sealed inside me, so I know he's here. Why can't I feel his chakra?" **"I would think you'd be happy to not be bothered by him for once." **She said plainly. Naruto swore. "That's not what I asked you! Just answer the question." The voice sighed. **"…To put it simply he's in a very deep sleep at the moment."** Ok now Naruto was freaked out. She had put Kyuubi to sleep? How in the world had she accomplished that? This whole thing was getting weirder by the minute. "Why?" he asked uneasily. **"I had to break apart the walls set around your mind enough to where I could properly talk to you. He was an obstacle so I temporarily sidelined him."**

Naruto didn't like where this was going at all. She had broken down barriers in his mind? What did that even mean? Had she literally torn through a part of his subconscious to get in here? On top of that she had put Kyuubi to sleep. How in the world had she even accomplished that? This whole thing was getting weirder by the minute. "Why are you in my mind?" he asked dreading the answer.

"**Because you lost something."**

Well that was unexpected. "…What?"

"**I can't explain further than that."**

His anger flared up. "And why the **** not!?"

"**If you really want to know you'll have to find the end of this maze." **

"Wait a second you! What do you mean I have to find the end!? You're the one who created it! Can't you just tell me how to get out!?"

"**I didn't create it, and the one who did doesn't live in this world. Either way you already know how to get through it on your own. Until you realize that I won't answer your questions. Call it fair trade."**

He could feel her chakra slipping out of his mind. "Wait," he yelled. "I don't know what to do! What did I lose? I don't understand anything you're saying!"

"**Sorry…out of time."**

"Wait!" Naruto bolted upright in bed reaching for nothing. His pillow and sheets were drenched in sweat again. His head was burning like he had fever even though he knew he didn't. He looked out the window. The sun had already risen so Sakura would probably come to wake him up any minute. He got dressed and wandered around the kitchen in a daze. The troubling part of all of this was he knew the woman had been telling the truth. On some level, whether he wanted to admit it or not, he did feel like he knew her. Was he really missing something?

He had just finished his breakfast when Sakura knocked on the door. "Naruto," she called in her scary voice. "It's morning already! Get your lazy ass out of bed!" Naruto huffed in annoyance. She was so bipolar. One minute she was sweet, and then the next minute she was trying to pound his face in. He would never get girls. "It's open Sakura and my ass is already out of bed!" he yelled. She poked her head through the door in disbelief. "Seriously? What made you roll out of bed so early?" Naruto averted his eyes. "I had another nightmare." She gave him a concerned look. Naruto sweat dropped when he realized she had no intention of sitting down. "My house isn't diseased y'know. You can sit down instead of just standing awkwardly in the middle of the room." She gave him a distasteful look. "I will again remind you of the ramen bowl." Naruto rolled his eyes.

Sakura sat down across from him. "Naruto." She looked at him in confusion. "…What is it?" he asked. "Something on my face?" Sakura looked troubled. "Naruto, have you been doing extra training sessions or something?" Naruto was confused. "What? No. Why are you asking?" Sakura looked him in the eyes. "Shizune noticed it too when we were in the tent yesterday. Did you realize how much of your chakra reserve has been depleted?"

Naruto looked up at her in surprise. "No. I didn't." Naruto said blinking rapidly as he processed the new information.

Sakura was still staring at him. "Are you doing anything outside of our current assignment Shizune or I should know about?"

Naruto shook his head. Sakura made a hmmm noise and straightened up.

"Shizune got a reply from Gaara with the escaped prisoner's files. We should go."

"Ok," Naruto agreed quickly. "Just let me put this up then we'll go ok?"

His friend nodded and headed out the door ahead of him. He watched the water run as he realized why the woman kept telling him to hurry. The dreams were draining his chakra.

* * *

><p>Naruto was in somewhat of a state of panic on the way to see Shizune. Should he tell Sakura what was going on? How could he tell anyone without sounding like a complete lunatic? He wondered if he would've even known how to tell pervy sage if he was still alive. He looked at his friend's back in front of him. "<em>Sorry Sakura," <em>he mentally apologized._ "But I can't tell you until I figure out more about this person in my head." _He could only pray she wouldn't kill him when she found out. Sakura dropped off where Tsunade's tent was and Naruto followed her inside.

Once they were both in the tent Shizune got up from her place by the comatose Hokage and greeted them. "I'm glad you both got here so quickly. I got a reply from Gaara last night. The messenger was pretty skittish. He said he felt like someone was following him. We need to exercise more caution with this mission than we have been. Here." She handed the envelope to Sakura. "You're not going to read it?" Naruto asked in surprise. Shizune looked at him with a serious expression. "Tsunade didn't trust Danzo before any of this happened and I don't trust him now. He always loathed her grandfather and Sarutobi's ways. I have every reason to think one of his men could be watching the Sand messengers. As Tsunade-sama's right hand woman, I'm the one that'll be monitored so the less I know the better." Naruto blinked and frowned. "I've been wondering for awhile now if that's why you didn't want Sai to help us with this mission." Shizune nodded. "I have no doubt of Sai's loyalty to you two as teammates, but he is still under Danzo's jurisdiction. He could make him do something even if he didn't want to. Now see what you find in those papers and report back to me later." "Hai Shizune." Sakura said.

She and Naruto exited the tent. Suddenly he felt his hair stand on end. He looked around feeling sure someone was watching him. He sighed. If he didn't catch up to Sakura quick she would probably leave him.

* * *

><p>The spy watched the Kyuubi's container retreat. He was more observant then she had originally thought. She would have to be more careful in the future around him. The spy fled the tree reappearing in Danzo's office a short time later. Danzo looked away from the window he was positioned at to his pupil. "Report." He demanded "The Kyuubi's container and the princess's pupil were at Shizune-san's tent again. That's the third time now, and a sand-shinobi was at her tent last night."<p>

Danzo narrowed his eyes. "So, Shizune and the Kazekage are doing something under my nose after all. I expected as much from a follower of Tsunade." The spy lifted her head with a hint of excitement. "Shall I assemble for an attack sir, or an assassination?" She grinned behind the Anbu mask framed by her flaming red hair as Danzo eyed her. "No. It will look suspicious if someone is killed before I am named the 6th Hokage. For now keep watching Shizune and the Sand messenger. You may leave." The girl called Yore hesitated. "Danzo-sama if I may be so bold," she said. Danzo looked at her. "Go on." "The Kyuubi container, Naruto, has a strange chakra signature coming from him. A red one." Danzo sniffed. "That would be the Kyuubi's chakra. It is a normal occurrence for the boy." Her eyes narrowed behind her mask. "With all due respect Danzo-sama this was _not_ the Kyuubi's chakra. You are one of the few in this organization aware of my origin to this world." She held up her arm pushing up the sleeve hiding the intricate rose marking in the middle of it. Danzo gazed at the reminder. "You have been a faithful student as well Yore, but please do get to the point." "I think _**she's**_ had contact with the boy." She hissed.

Danzo raised a critical eyebrow. He walked over and condescendingly patted the girl on the head. "Forgive me my dear, but you must be mistaken. _**She **_is dead. Madara helped make sure of that after _the incident_ two years ago." Yore glared and slapped his hand away. "You are a fool to trust Madara's word. I know her aura. It's in my instinct to know." Danzo thought for a minute. "Very well. Your judgment has seldom failed me before. I don't understand the laws of your bloody world, but do what you must." Yore bowed low. "Hai Danzo-sama. I will not fail you."

She was gone from the room in a split second. Trees and buildings whizzed past her as she tracked the Kyuubi's container and Tsunade's pupil. Yore watched the two from a perch on the left side of the building. The girl grew still in thought. She knew the dragon had taken actions against her, but she had perceived the vessel too weakened for her to have actually accomplished anything. If she wasn't mistaken though, she had believed a lie for two years. "Now boy," she said to Naruto's silhouette in the window. "What kind of dreams have you been having?"

* * *

><p>"Ugh," groaned Naruto. "More paperwork." Sakura just sat down across from him and dumped the files out of the bag. She began sifting through them and handed him a big stack. After a while they had managed a system where all the documents to do with different info were stacked into neat piles. Most of the stuff was a layout and blue prints of the prison, the cell that was broken into, and the witness accounts from the guards. They sifted through half the stack before they found what they were looking for. "Here it is," said Sakura. She pulled the papers from the stack and raised her eyebrows. "You have got to be kidding me." She said in annoyance. "What is it?" asked Naruto grabbing for the papers. Sakura handed them to him. "They've had two female prisoners missing from the prison for over two weeks." Naruto's eyes widened. "Wow. They must have really bad security. What kind of idiots don't know their own prisoners are missing for two weeks?" Sakura shook her head. "The sand security is some of the best there is. There has to be something these people are doing that everyone is missing. We should look at the witness accounts later." Naruto nodded. "What does it say about the prisoners that escaped?" Sakura pulled a few papers. Naruto looked over her shoulder as she read the document:<p>

Name: Tia Imakashi

Age: 17

Height: 5'4

Eyes: Blue

Skin: Tan

Hair: Blonde, medium length

Rank: Chunin, Missing-Nin

Chakra Type: Primary- wind, Secondary-Earth

Info: Inducted as spy for Sunagakure at age 13. Subject appointed as an assassin for the Sishin at age 15. She defected from the village after a failed mission in the Land of Earth, (details classified) and was branded a missing nin at age 16. Subject was caught with cell mate after an explosion they caused over by the Mukare Border Outpost.

Naruto wrinkled his nose in confusion. "What's a Sishin?" He asked. Sakura looked at the document thoughtfully. "I read about them when I was doing research at the Sand a few months ago," she said. "The Sishin were a group of seven assasins a lot like the seven swordsman of Kirigakure except they were all female. They were disbanded by the previous Kazekage after the failed mission in Iwagakure mentioned here. Since one of them became a missing-nin he thought it was too risky to keep the group together in case any of the others tried to go rouge as well." Naruto frowned. "Weird. What about the other girl?" Sakura pulled the other prisoners file:

Name: Airi (No last name.)

Age: 15 (estimated)

Height: 5'1

Eyes: Blue

Skin: Brown

Hair: Brown

Rank: Chunin (estimated. subject could possibly still be genin.), possibly Missing-Nin

Chakra Type: Primary- Earth, Secondary- Water

Info: The subject appears to be from Kumogakure, but could possibly be from Kirigakure. Network still processing all possible classified missing-nin data from the databases at this time.

Sakura frowned. "It looks like she escaped before they could get a solid background check." Naruto scoffed. "An assassin and some weird girl they have no information about are locked in their prison, and they actually lose track of them for two weeks? Talk about pathetic security. Gaara needs to appoint some new people." Sakura ignored him focusing on the paper. Naruto looked at her questioningly. "What's up?" Sakura shuffled around the documents and suddenly slammed them down in frustration making him jump. "Ugh!" she yelled. "This doesn't make any sense!" Naruto thought it smart at the moment to back a couple of steps away before he spoke. "What doesn't make sense?" Sakura faced him with a frown. "All the accounts about the guards getting knocked out, all the missing objects that no one seems to know about, an assassin and a strange girl sprung from jail? None of these things are adding up! We have to be missing something."

She slammed her head down on the table with a frustrated sigh. Naruto watched her and cautiously sat back down. He grabbed a stack of the papers not sure what else to do. The pile he picked up was the guard's eye witness accounts. Most of it was the same as before. They came, knocked them out, nothing left behind. Most of the guards had been out for days. Naruto wrinkled his brow. Why did that sound so familiar? He flashed back suddenly to when Sasuke had been unconscious for a few days after being hit with Itachi's genjutsu. "Hey Sakura," he said. She lifted her head off the table. "Hn?" He shoved the paper in her direction. "Would a genjutsu make the guards not remember who attacked them or what was taken?" Sakura was suddenly alert. "Now that you mention it…" She got up from her seat and retrieved the other papers. Her eyes widened as she flipped through them again. "I think your right. That would explain why there was no evidence left behind. It's a rare genjutsu that could do that, but it would explain how they got in and out so easily."

Both of them grew quiet at the prospect of a genjutsu user robbing Kumogakure's archives. "This is going to make things a lot harder isn't it?" Sakura nodded. "We need to tell Shizune-sama right away."


	4. In the Sand

**The Village Hidden in the Sand's Top Secret Archives**

The figure watched the guards from the shadows. There were two more rounds until the lazy guard showed up. He took twice as long as the other guards to trade watches, and they left it unmanned because they didn't think there was much to steal in the archives anyway. The figure scoffed in distaste. It amazed him how little some of the guards were allowed to know, and how easily his companion inside could sneak them in. He tensed. Almost time now. In seconds he would be able to signal his companion and they could make off with the artifact unnoticed just like always. He wondered when they would start catching on. He waited anxiously for the signal, and suddenly everything went horribly wrong.

The guards were right in the middle of changing watches when the barrier that had been concealing him from their sight shattered. He stood frozen in shock his face totally exposed. The guards gaped at the youth that had appeared out of nowhere. To the guards it was like the shadows had just suddenly fallen revealing a brunette boy with semi-dark skin and piercing gold eyes. He was wearing green camo pants tucked into black boots and a faded black T-shirt. His hair was swept in a ponytail and, it didn't take long for them to register the wicked looking Daggertail* in his hand. "What the…" one of the guards said. Before he could finish the sentence the youth sprinted toward the South wall. "After him!"

The alarm went up and the boy could hear several of the guards in the facility tailing him. His eyes roamed around the walls looking for the exit they had pinpointed in case their attempt failed. He looked back "Shoot," he said. Some of the guards had broken out their puppets and were gaining on him. _"C'mon, c'mon,"_ he thought trying to speed up his pace. The stupid artifact could be gotten a different way later. It wasn't worth hashing it out with the guards yet. The ground suddenly shook beneath him and a whole wall by the guards blew out behind. He stopped, looked back and grinned. Better late than never. He picked his pace back up and headed to the window that was his escape route.

He was nearly to victory when he saw the puppet out of the corner of his eye. It shot poison darts at him aiming to kill. He acted quickly and whipped out his daggertail in front of him deflecting all the darts except one. He made it to the window and rolled out onto the ground. "Argh!" He grabbed his arm where the dart had struck him, but kept moving. He couldn't afford to be captured and his remaining teammates were capable of getting out themselves. He could already sense their chakra disappearing. He grunted again half in pain and half in exasperation. The mission had failed, and this was going to get ugly fast. He was gonna kill her when he got back. He kept moving before the poison could slow him down and disappeared into the trees.

* * *

><p>Naruto stayed silent while Sakura explained their revelation to Shizune. "I see," She said. "We'll send a message to the Kazekage immediately." Just as Shizune prepared to file her report for Gaara, a sand shinobi came flying in. "Lady Shizune!" He stopped in the middle of the room gasping for breath. Shizune looked at him startled. "Are you alright? What happened?" The shinobi bowed low to the stunned group. "Milady, the south archives was just attacked by the thieves. They failed." The group was stunned to say the least. "What happened?" Sakura inquired. The shinobi panted out his response. "The guards… were preparing to switch… watches… when a boy materialized from the shadows… He looked no older… than Kankuro. The guards gave chase…, but he escaped after an explosion blocked our puppeteer guards… Lord Kazecage… expects another attempt on stealing the item… He wants Naruto Uzumaki… and Sakura Haruno to report immediately to the sand… to help capture them."<p>

Shizune nodded. "You have done your duty well. They will leave with you immediately." Naruto and Sakura nodded. "Well, if they weren't noticed before they sure are now," said Naruto. "Wonder what went wrong?"

* * *

><p>Yore left the tree she had been hiding in as soon as they had emerged from the tent. She leapt across the familiar buildings and through the window into Danzo's office. "Lord Danzo." she said grimacing behind her mask. She hated calling him that. Danzo acknowledged her. "Yore, what news do you bring?" Yore rose and faced her "master." "The sand shinobi returned to Shizune a short while ago. It seems they have a lead in their case. Naruto and Sakura left immediately with him. What do you wish me to do?" Danzo eyed her. "Nothing. This affair of thieves does not concern me. I see no reason to pursue it, and the Kyuubi container will be secure in the Kazekage's village. You will resume your task when they return." Yore frowned. "Danzo-sama I feel I must again warn you about <em><strong>her<strong>_…" Danzo slapped his student across the face knocking her mask off. "You will do as you're told and I will hear no more of your ridiculous theories!"

Yore gripped the cheek he had marked with the slap. "Hai Danzo-sama. I will do as I'm told." She said. She tried to still her shaking hands. Danzo narrowed his eyes. "Good. You may leave." She fled to the roof a good distance away from his office. She took deep breaths making the red that had entered her vision die down. The dragon had made contact with the boy. That much she was sure of. Yore clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. She would not sit idly by when her own dreams were filled with blood and fire. She would do as Danzo said for now, but she would not let phantoms rule her. She would stop the dragon even if she had to watch Danzo bleed to do so. She did not feel quilty.

* * *

><p>Gaara sat in his office going over reports. These thieves were giving him a headache. It was a miracle they had slipped up this time, but no one was sure what the boy they saw had been after in the first place. He sighed in frustration. His guards seemed so incompetent lately. They had a few faces, but they still weren't sure who any of these people were except for the blonde girl, Tia, from his village. They also still had no idea how many people were in the group. The girl who had been arrested with Tia was another troubling matter. The girl's name and face had been run through almost every database he and his research team had access to. It was like someone had picked any information on the girl clean from every record imaginable. He had a few hits with the boy's physical description linked to the Shimari refugee camp in Iwagakure, but none of their faces matched. Gaara heard a knock from his office door. "Come in," he said.<p>

His sister's head poked around the door. "Anymore hits on the male?" she asked. Gaara frowned. "No, and the guard didn't recognize any pictures from the refugee camp. Did you finish checking the ninja databases for the girl?" Temari walked into the room and stood in front of his desk. "I did." Gaara sighed. "Did you check all of them?" Temari nodded. "All of them." "What about the databases outside the Sand?" he questioned. "By all of them I mean all of them."

Gaara looked up in surprise. "Even Kumogakure's database?" She nodded. "There's still no record of her anywhere." Gaara turned his chair around and faced the window. It was getting late. Naruto and Sakura would be there before long. It had already been three days since he sent out the messenger. Since they had been the ones looking at the files he hoped what they had found would help solve the whole matter or at least unravel some of the mystery before a Kage Council was called. "Temari!" She snapped out of whatever she had been thinking. "Yes?" "I need you to search through the rest of the databases; the ones that don't have anything to do with ninja. She could have left her village's notice before she actually became one." Temari bowed low. "Of course, you can count on me." There was another knock at the door.

"Come in," said Gaara. One of the sentry's that watched the gate entered. "Kazekage-sama, I've been instructed to inform you that Naruto Uzamaki and Sakura Haruno have arrived." "Ah, Good," said Gaara. "Tell them to report here immediately and I will debrief them. Oh, and tell Rowen to go home and rest. He deserves it after all the errands I've sent him on to the leaf." "Yes Lord Kazecage." The sentry went to retrieve the two Konoha ninja.

Gaara noticed his sister still standing in the room. He blinked. "Temari did you have more business with me?" She looked uncomfortable. "Gaara," she said. "I don't doubt your reasoning, but why did you specifically want Shizune, Naruto, and Sakura to look at the thefts when you have a whole village of people here more than qualified to do the same?" "Y'know I was kind of wondering that too Gaara, or did you just want to flaunt the fact you got in the Kage position before me in my face?" Gaara turned his chair around and directed a ghost of a smile at the hyperactive blonde who had just bounced in the doorway.

Temari whipped around. "You! Show some respect to our Kage!" Sakura sweatdropped behind Naruto. "It's fine Temari. He is a friend after all." Gaara said. He turned his attention to his two comrades from Konoha. "You are welcome to hear my answer to Nee-san's question." Temari huffed. Gaara made a serious expression.

"I chose to use you two because I am currently having trouble putting any faith in my council or sentries to handle things of this nature after the incident with Sasori and Diedara. I chose Shizune, quite frankly, because I don't trust Danzo's motives. What he wants is a war, and I'm not too sure he won't get just that. Even with your cheerful personality Naruto, I'm sure that even you have noticed the unrest the Akatsuki and Sasuke have brought about already."

The two ninja looked at the floor. He could tell the mention of Sasuke made Naruto and Sakura uncomfortable. Sakura glanced at him. "We have discovered that one of the thieves may be using Genjutsu to sneak themselves past the guards." Gaara frowned. "I worried as much after the description my guards gave of the boy materializing out of thin air. Even with that information I doubt he himself is the user judging by how surprised the guards said he looked when he realized he was visable." Sakura looked grim. "What do you need us to do?" He gave the konoichi his full attention. "You have had a long journey so tonight you will rest. We have already saved a room for you at the inn." Naruto blushed. "You mean one room for both of us?" Gaara smiled. "Yes," he said calmly. "I'm sure you'll have fun." Temari stared at him and Sakura looked at the floor cracks. Naruto turned at least three shades of red. Gaara coughed and they focused on him again. "Tomorrow at 2:00 you will help start searching the area around the Archives to see if you can find anything at all that would be helpful. I may or may not join you depending on the amount of paperwork I have at the time. Until then you are dismissed."

"Hai," said Naruto and Sakura. Temari led them out to take them to the inn. Gaara looked out the window again and narrowed his eyes. Everything was all so strange and menacing. First the Akatsuki, then the thieves, and now the possible threat of a fourth ninja war. There was also the issue of the chakra he kept detecting around the archives. It was menacing and familiar. The scary part was he wasn't the one who recognized the chakra. Whatever remnants of chakra the Shukaku had left behind in him reacted violently to the almost ancient scent. There was something foreboding and dark in the air. He could feel it, and he couldn't help but wonder how far down the dark path they would all get dragged.

* * *

><p>Naruto gritted his teeth while he teased Temari. He felt like his head was going to split open. This could not happen to him while he was in the Sand. He needed this nipped in the bud NOW. All the random images of the black-haired girl were driving him nuts. The fact he was sure he should know her bugged him even more. This, however, was not the point. The point was he was on an important mission and his head felt like it explode any minute. "Are we almost there?" he asked Temari. "Yeah," she said. "It's right around the corner. Tell the attendant you're the guests from Konoha and she'll give you the key. Sakura nodded at her. "Thanks Temari!" Temari nodded and left. They checked in with the attendant and went to the room. Both were relieved to see two beds on opposite sides of the room. "I'm going to shower." announced Sakura. She shot a glare at him. "Don't you dare mess with the toilet." He chuckled. "Course not. You'd pound me." He planned on sleeping, though he wished for once it would be dreamless. "Naruto?" He looked at his teammate. "Yeah?" She smiled. "Sleep well." She disappeared into the bathroom. Naruto sighed and closed his eyes in frustration. Even in his dreams he wasn't allowed to rest.<p> 


	5. More Dreams and Mysteries

Naruto opened his eyes and sighed. He had made no progress in the maze the past three days. He'd basically just wandered around talking to the girl in his head. He had taken to calling her Alien because it bugged her to no end, and he figured it was at least one thing he had over his mind's unwelcome guest. He looked around. He was right where he had left off the previous night. He sighed again. "Can't you ever let me actually sleep?" Her voice came out of nowhere as always.

"**I am sorry your body is suffering from this. I don't mean to cause you harm, but we are running out of time.**" Naruto frowned.

"Did it ever occur to you that this all might go faster if you actually gave me a straight answer for once and told me exactly what's going on Alien?"

She let out what sounded like some indication of displeasure at the nickname. "**Of all the names in the world you…ugh…nevermind. I already told you I can't help you. You must find the way yourself or my efforts will be for nothing.**"

Naruto slammed his fist into one of the walls around him. "Why the hell should I care whether your efforts come to anything? I'm sick because of you! I wake up in the mornings and my chakra is almost gone from trying to get through whatever this maze is you put in my head! Speaking of which, can you ease up on all the cryptic images? My head feels like it's going to split in half!"

"**Even if I wanted to I couldn't.**"

"And again I ask why the hell not?"

"**And again I say because I'm not the one that put them or anything else going on in your mind here except myself.**"

"You make no sense!"

"**And you're a fool! So where does that leave us?**"

Naruto rubbed his head in frustration. He couldn't deal with any of this anymore. He got up shakily on his feet and began walking around. If there was one thing he agreed with Alien on, it was that he needed to figure out this maze fast. He began walking again. There was no direction anymore. All he saw was a bunch of walls that led different ways with weird symbols on them.

Naruto stopped. He looked at the wall in front of him, blinked. Nope he hadn't been imagining things. The wall was adorned with strange symbols as black as ink consisting of many different shapes and sizes. They wound around the walls like ivy. It was almost as if they were part of the maze itself. Naruto was shaken by them. He was almost 100% sure none of the symbols had been on those walls before tonight. "Alien!" he yelled trying to get her attention. "Hey Alien! What are all these symbols?"

"**Argh! My aching head! I told you not to yell. I can hear you just fine as is!**"

"Your aching head?!" he countered. "I'm the one with the maze and weird images assaulting my brain!"

She didn't spare him a comment about his head. "**I was wondering when you were going to notice them. They're seals.**"

Naruto cocked his head to the side. If the maze had seals it explained why the path was so hard to navigate. He looked closer at the symbols to see if he could name a few, but he was surprised to find that they were all foreign to him. "They don't look like any seals I've ever seen." he stated. Alien scoffed "**To be fair,**" she said. "**I don't think you've actually seen that many seals in the first place. Besides, it would be extremely worrisome if you had recognized them. They aren't from this world. They're part of a set of symbols belonging to the West Gate and the Bridge's principle called alchemy."**

Naruto wrinkled his nose. He stammered out the words. "Westah…gaatah? Brijah? Al…kay…may? What in the world are you talking about?"

Alien sighed. "**You know if you don't open your mind a bit more soon you won't get any better and then where will we be? It's not like I actually want to do this.**"

"Then get out!" Naruto yelled. He was sure if he could see her she'd be rolling her eyes at him.

"**Not everything is as simple as it seems Naruto.**" He grumbled a curse under his breath.

Frustrated, Naruto continued through the maze silently. As much as he hated to admit it, on some level Naruto realized he had gotten used to the girl being in his head. Her chakra was powerful and foreboding, but it didn't feel evil. Besides, aside from the maze she hadn't expressly done anything except talk to him. Naruto sat down criss- cross and looked at the floor. "Hey, Alien!" he called. She sighed in exasperation. "**Yes, Naruto?**" She asked irritably. He looked up at where he thought her physical appearance could be in his mindscape.

"Why are you trying to help me?" he asked. "What am I to you?"

"**…That's complicated.**"

Naruto cursed and threw his hands into the air. "You're so confusing!" he yelled. "You say you want to help me, but you can't tell me anything helpful! How do I make this all stop when I don't even know what you want me to do?"

There was another pause in the air. He could feel her hold slipping as time was running out. She finally spoke after what seemed a long time. "**Like I said Naruto, sometimes not everything in this world is so obvious. Sometimes things are happening around you that you aren't aware of and will never be aware of.**"

Naruto blinked and was awake is his hotel room. He winced at the pang that ran through his temple. He felt weak and drained. Alien was right about one thing. Whether it was his time of hers, he was definitely running out of it.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure you're up for this Naruto?" Sakura asked him for the fifth time that morning. Naruto sighed. He was glad she was trying to be a good friend, but he felt like he was dragging an anchor around with all the energy the maze had zapped from him. "I'm fine Sakura. When we get home you can take me to the hospital and run a medical test on me or whatever if it makes you feel better, but for right now let's just go to the archives and get this over with." Sakura stared at him. "What?" he asked. "I've never heard you willingly volunteer to go to the hospital ever. I think Hell officially froze over." They stared at each other for a minute then busted out laughing. Kankuro, who was their guide for the day, glanced at them like they were both crazy.<p>

The South Archives were in the outskirts of Sunagakere so they had to travel quite a distance to get there. Sakura spoke up after they had finished laughing. "So Kankuro, what was the extent of the damage to the actual facility?" Kankuro scoffed. "I would describe it, but you'll see for yourself soon enough. It's a sight to see is all I can say." The three had walked several more miles when the top of the facility came into view. Naruto inspected the section of the roof he could see. "It doesn't look that bad to me." he said. "Just wait until we get on the hill over here for the full view." replied Kankuro. When they finally got to the top of the hill he had mentioned Sakura and Naruto both gasped. The place might as well have been torn apart. The gears that worked the door were exposed. The top section of the east hall had caved in. Most noticeable was the west hall where there was almost no evidence left that a wall had been there, and some of the rooms were exposed. There were sand ninja everywhere trying to repair and guard the now exposed sections of the facility. "Told you it was a sight." said Kankuro.

Naruto and Sakura stared at the inside. It looked even worse than the outside. The ceiling looked like the rest of it would cave in at any moment. Kankuro spoke up. "Two of the guards were stationed at the scroll room in the north west hall. They were about to change shifts guarding the room when this boy just materialized out of nowhere. They said he froze for a second and stared at them, and they attacked once they realized he had a weapon. They tried to subdue him but he used his weapon, a dagger tail of all things, to deflect the shurikin back at them. They got distracted when a bomb shook the building. That's when the east hall caved in. Another blast blew out the wall beside them. He slipped out of their grasp and they signaled for reinforcements. They chased him all the way to the southwest hall where two of the other puppet masters stepped in. They were using poison darts, and he was having trouble dodging their attacks. They almost had him when the wall next to them suddenly caved in on top of them. Leito was sure he hit the guy with one of the darts, but the wall gave him enough time to escape through a window and run off into the woods. We sent search parties out for the body, but they haven't turned up anything yet and I doubt they will. It's obvious he wasn't here alone."He stopped them in front of the scroll room. "This is where the boy materialized." Naruto looked at the area whistled. You could see evidence of the fight Kankuro described by the dagger and shuriken marks on the remainder of the walls.

"What was in here that they wanted so badly?" Kankuro looked at him and shook his head.

"This is one of the scroll rooms, but we have no idea which one he was after."

Naruto glared. "Can't you guess from the other things they've stolen so far?"

Kankuro sighed in exasperation. "We already told you in the report. Most of the things they take are semi-meaningless scrolls we have copies of elsewhere. It's been the same for the other villages as well."

Sakura's gaze shifted quickly from the debris. "What do you mean **the other villages**?" she asked. Kankuro blinked in surprise. "I thought you were informed." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "No one said anything about other villages. We thought Sunagakure was the only one they had robbed. You're telling us there are others?" Kankuro nodded. "We've had confirmation from the other Kages that they already visited Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure." Sakura scowled. "If they've done that much damage why weren't the other nations informed right away?" she asked. Kankuro shrugged as if it were no big deal. "This is the first time they've caused this much damage. The Kages didn't want to cause any unrest or make their nation look weak since the thefts seemed small scale."

Sakura looked troubled and went back to examining the scroll room door, eventually entering the room. Naruto, convinced she didn't need him at the moment, went to examine the blown out wall. The debris from the wall was all on the outside of the building. It looked like something Sasuke's chidori or one of Deidara's bombs would do. "Hey Kankuro!" he called. "Did any of the guards find dud bombs in any of the debris?" Kankuro inclined his head toward him. "Yeah we found one over by the East wall. It was a metal, chakra activated bomb. Why?"

Naruto pointed at the destroyed wall. "All the pieces except for the ones from the roof are outside the building." Kankuro looked at the wall and blinked in surprise. "You're right. I guess I didn't notice with the pieces from the ceiling being on the inside." By this time Sakura had come out of the scroll room. "There was nothing pre-set up in there to indicate which scroll to steal. So the thief must've known exactly what he was looking for. Can we see the dud bomb you found?" Kankuro nodded and scurried off the get the bomb. Sakura came to stand by Naruto and surveyed the wall. "Looks like something Sasuke's Chidori would do doesn't it?"

Naruto looked at his teammates face. It looked sad, as if thinking of some far off memory. "You still love him don't you?" he asked. Sakura looked up startled then looked back down. "It doesn't matter how I feel. That's not the mission right now." Naruto dropped the subject, a little hurt, and looked up to see Kankuro coming with the dud bomb. Sakura took it from him and examined it in awe. It had a metal exterior, and the center was pulsating with a dull blue light. Kankuro spoke up. "It looked like it had been hidden in the cracks of the walls. Our tech expert, Carl, figured out there was a button that made it shrink. Whoever built the thing certainly knew what they were doing."

Sakura examined it in awe and poked it a few times. "Have you been able to tell if the signature might have belonged to Airi or Tia? The reports did say they've been missing from the prison for two weeks." Kankuro scratched the back of his head. "Carl's been working on it with Havoc, but the things a tough little bugger to crack. Whoever made it is a genius." Naruto and Kankuro both gaped at Sakura as she threw the bomb to the ground and slammed her foot over it. "Sakura!" Naruto cried. Sakura ignored him picking up the bomb. She handed it back to a shocked Kankuro. "Now it's open." She stated bluntly. Naruto sweat dropped. "Um, Sakura? Exactly what were you planning to do if the bomb exploded?" She stared. "Huh." She said. "I didn't think about that."

* * *

><p>Kankuro sweat dropped at the two idiots in front of him. Sakura handed the core of the bomb to him. "Have you set up interrogations yet?" Kankuro nodded. Naruto looked as clueless as usual. "Why does he need to set up interrogations?" Sakura sighed. "Naruto, someone had to have access to the facility to set up the bombs in here." Understanding dawned over Naruto's face. "Oh ok. So we just have to figure out which workers have been at every facility right? What's so special about the bomb then?" Kankuro rolled his eyes at the blonde. "Many of the guards and workers that work in the archives constantly rotate between the five buildings. We can narrow it down to who was on duty each night, but the chakra will tell us who it is or at least who's been in contact with the person. I need to inform…"<p>

He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Sakura felt it too and they both took a defensive stance. Naruto looked confused and whipped his head around looking for the threat. Kankuro frowned. What was with him today? Sakura took action first and threw her kunai hard. It hit a tree and Kankuro spotted movement. Just as he was about to spring the signature was gone. Kankuro stiffened in surprise, and after a few minutes relaxed. He looked at Sakura. "You felt it too?" he asked. She nodded. He sighed. "This isn't good." Naruto looked perplexed. "Will somebody please tell me what's going on?" the blonde annoyingly demanded. He didn't know how the leaf put up with that kid sometimes. Sakura looked at her distraught teammate. "There was a faint spike of chakra out there in the woods. Someone was watching us. Probably has been since we got here. Maybe longer. The chakra signature disappeared though." Kankuro sighed. "Either way whoever it was is gone now, and there's no telling how much they heard." The three stared with worry out into the trees.


	6. Market's and Thieves

**The Village Hidden in the Sand's Top Secret Archives**

The spy ducked as the Kunoichi from the leaf aimed her kunai at his head. His panic at the dub bomb being discovered had caused his chakra to spike. The weapon nicked off some of his dirty blonde hair and barely missed his forehead. He regained his composure and watched their surprised faces as he calmed his chakra again and escaped through the low bushes so as to be unseen.

He ran through the woods at lightning speed. As he went further, the trees got thicker indicating a location on the outskirts of the sand village. He didn't stop until he came to a clearing where an opening was concealed by a very thick wall of ivy. He ducked through the opening and down the stairs into the tunnels below. Originally it had been one of Orochimaru's hideouts that had been abandoned, but they had disposed of all his experiments and tools and made it into their own accommodating living space. He quickly ran down the west hallway toward the infirmary where Riyu was recovering from the poison. He burst open the door which surprised Riyu and the Brown haired, dark skinned girl tending to him.

"Al?" she questioned. "What's wrong?"

"Is she here?" Al asked after he had finally caught his breath.

"Ugh! Is who here Al?" Riyu groaned from the medical table. "If you mean Tia she's in the training room…"

"Not her! Fae!" Al said quickly. "We have a problem!"

Airi cocked her head. "What kind of problem? Besides she's not here. She got stir crazy and went to the market."

Al's shoulders sank with dread. "They found the bomb that had her chakra signature in it." Airi froze. Riyu cursed before throwing up.

* * *

><p>Sakura looked at Naruto with a newfound worry. He hadn't been able to sense the intruder's chakra like she and Kankuro had. He was getting weaker, and she didn't know how much more his body could take. "Naruto," she said. "You look really tired. Why don't you go back to the hotel and see if you can't get some energy back up. I'll look around and find something for us to eat later." Naruto sighed and nodded. "Sure, might as well get it over with early today." Sakura looked at her friend confused. "What?" Naruto gave her a tiny smile. "Don't worry about it." He trudged on ahead of her and disappeared around a corner. She frowned wondering if sleeping was going to do him any good at this point. She might have to contact Shizune. She looked around as she began walking again. She would worry about that later. The current challenge was going to be finding what Naruto would eat besides ramen to help with the chakra exhaustion.<p>

That's when the chakra presence hit her senses like wildfire. She whipped her head around in surprise. She had picked up on the thief's chakra signature. She frowned. All the intel she and Naruto had gathered back in the leaf told her the thieves were nearly impossible to catch. She shouldn't have picked up on the signature so easily. Sakura warily followed the trail hoping she wouldn't be getting into a fight with this many civilians around. What she saw at the end of the trail, however, shocked her.

* * *

><p>"Though her comrades had fallen Midori-san knew she had no choice but to keep pressing forward. As the mighty dragon stared her down she quaked with fear in the wake of its scorching breath…" "Quaked with fear?" The raven-hired girl stopped her story to look at the grumpy face of Shiro Nakama. He stopped by the market every day to hear her stories. She had to crinkle her nose to keep herself from laughing at his pouty face. "Oh come on Fae Onee-san!" He complained loudly making the other kids grumble. Fae smiled. "You don't like the story Shiro?" she asked him. He waved his hand dismissing the notion. "The story is fine." He said. "It's Midori-san who's dumb!" Fae just tilted her head curiously. The story was from one of the books in her father's library. She and her siblings had never had a problem with the character.<p>

Shiro loved her stories whether they were of her own invention or not, but he always felt like he had to tell her something to make them better. It was endearing and annoying at the same time. "Oh?" she said in response. "Why do you think she's dumb?" she questioned. Shiro ignored the kids who were telling him to hush so she could finish. "Quaked with fear?" he said skeptically. "I mean come on a warrior shouldn't be scared!" Fae smiled. "Actually Shiro even the strongest people in the world get scared." He held open his mouth comically. "What? No way! My parents are super strong and they never get scared!" The next words out of her mouth were intended to be some sort of life lesson or something along those lines, but the words caught in her throat as soon as the pink-haired girl appeared around the corner.

She knew who the girl was of course. Ryu, Riyu's older and surprisingly less responsible twin, had done intel on them as soon as they heard the Kazekage was planning on bringing in help from the leaf. Sakura Haruno. Classified Chunin. The current Hokage's pupil. Youngest expert medic-nin to ever grace Konoha. Unfortunately, said person had started staring holes into her since she rounded the corner. Fae had a bad feeling. She gave her attention back to Shiro wanting to wrap this up quickly. "Well how bout we end the story there for now, and you can ask your parents and tell me whether strong people get scared or not tomorrow ok?" If she was even here tomorrow. "Awwwww!" All the kids chorused slowly making their way back to their parents.

* * *

><p>Sakura appraised the girl the boy had called Fae's appearance. She was fairly short with shoulder length black hair partially covering her face. She was wearing the normal Suna-nin gear, and Sakura supposed she was pretty other than her bandaged left arm. She faintly wondered what had caused the injury. She would've just arrested the girl right there, but a more intelligent part of her brain reminded her they were in the marketplace. Though Kankuro had made it clear what he wanted done if any of the thieves were actually found, the fact remained that she was still in Sand territory, and people would get the wrong idea if someone from the leaf tried to take in a civilian. However, even she hadn't expected to find the supposed thief telling stories to kids in the market place. The notion somewhat shattered her pre-supposed image of a hardened ninja mercenary for hire.<p>

Choosing a more indirect approach, Sakura walked up to the girl quickly and quietly when she was done with her tale. "They really seem to like you." She said trying to appeal to the girl's ego. "You must be a good story teller." Fae blinked up at her and glanced back in the direction the kids had gone. "I don't know about that," she said cautiously. "But I do enjoy making them smile." Sakura herself blinked at the girl's simple answer. "Well, what I heard sounded good." She further complimented suddenly unsure. The girl gave her a smile and Sakura honestly couldn't tell if it was fake of not. "What's a leaf ninja doing talking to a story teller?" The girl questioned.

Sakura was surprised at the abrupt statement. "You don't see many women with pink hair and the leaf village insignia around here." The girl said pointing at her forehead. Sakura touched her headband in embarrassment. "Actually," she said trying to gage whether or not the girl was a threat. "I noticed your uniform. You wouldn't happen to work at the archives would you?" The girl nodded. "I'm stationed in the East hall at the moment." Sakura gave the most non-threatening smile she could manage. "Would you mind answering some questions? We're just trying to get everyone's side of the story." The girl frowned at her. "You mean you're interrogating everyone." She said bluntly. "If you're going to declare your intentions you may as well be honest about them." Sakura sweat dropped wondering if she should've waited on Kankuro or Temari after all. "I thought I'd put it a nicer way." She said carefully. The girl seemed to be sizing her up as well. After glancing her over for a few seconds she stood up dusting off her bum. "Actually I do mind. I have somewhere else to be right now. It shouldn't be an inconvenience for you to interrogate me with everyone else tomorrow." The girl said turning to walk away.

Sakura frowned trying to keep up with…What had that kid called her? Fae? Either way there was no chance she was letting this girl out of her sight. She pointed a finger at the girl's bandaged left arm. "Are you sure you don't need me to help with anything? That arm's got to be a pain." Fae's expression changed to a defensive one. "It isn't injured." she said pulling back from Sakura. "You have no reason to keep pestering me, so leave me alone." She started to quicken her pace. Not knowing what else to do Sakura grabbed her arm and stopped her. She knew that was a mistake as soon as the girl sent her a glare with enough kill chakra to put Tsunade to shame. "Let. Go." She said evenly.

Sakura glared back throwing all caution out the window. She pulled Fae up to her face and said to her just as evenly. "Listen here. I don't know who you are or what you're doing here. What I do know is that you're a thief and you have two choices. You can come with me quietly and explain exactly what it is you're stealing, or we fight right here and make the townspeople panic and alert the Kazekage's guard. Considering your track record so far I don't think you want the second option." She could see the girl's wheels turning in her head. "Fine." She said. "Lead the way." Sakura glared and kept a grip on the girl's arm making it look like she was helping lead her around. "So," she said to the girl. "Exactly where is it you have to be?" The girl smirked wryly giving Sakura an unexpected feeling of déjà vu. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Sakura pulled her along leading her to the path to Kankuro's office. "You know in all this excitement I almost forgot," She said as she practically dragged her. "My name's Haruno Sakura. What's yours so I can put it down for the records?" The girl hesitated for a moment before answering. "Rin Fae. It's nice to meet you. Want to hear a story?"

* * *

><p>Naruto had made his way back to the hotel and immediately collapsed on the bed. It wasn't long before he opened his eyes and found himself back inside the maze. "<strong>You're early today.<strong>" Alien said. Naruto sighed. He was obviously not going to get any kind of peace until he somehow went through the maze. He looked around and thanked God that he at least kept ending up in the same places he was before he woke up. He looked around at the cryptic symbols on the walls that Alien had called Alkaymay before getting up and stretching. He faced the direction he had been heading the night before and started walking. At this point he didn't really care where he went as long as he ended up going somewhere. Besides there was a more pressing matter on his mind. "Hey Alien," he said casually remembering she didn't like it when he yelled. Her voice came from nowhere as always.

"**Yes Naruto?**"

"Are you actually gonna tell me about the stupid Kyuubi?" he questioned. It wasn't like he had anything better to do at the moment.

He heard her chuckle. "**These are the simplest terms I can go into so try to keep up.**" She said. Naruto glared, but stayed quiet. "T**he Kyuubi isn't just some intruder in your mind that was sealed here without your consent. Whether you like it or not, in a sense your body also belongs to him. Therefore, he is a very effective guardian.**" She paused to see if he was following then continued. "**I believe I told you before I had to break down some barriers around your mind to get in here.**" Naruto frowned wondering again if she had done damage to anything important. "**If it was just you occupying this body, entering your mind like I have would have been easy. However, you are not alone. The fox is also an inhabitant of your body. What I did, essentially, is use my chakra to temporarily strengthen your seal enough to bar the fox from you for a temporary period of time. Coincidently, the effect of the seal's strengthening is him taking a very hard nap. Make sense?**"

Naruto was still frowning. "So basically what you're saying is you sealed him farther in my body than he was already so you could mess around in my head without him interfering?" He stated bluntly. "**Yes.**" She deadpanned making him sweat drop. She had basically insured her passage into his head and prevented him from getting help from the Kyuubi all in one hit. He was silent for awhile making his way through the maze and looking at all the strange symbols. Why were these even here? Shoot, why was a maze here? He was supposed to find whatever he had lost, but how? Why was it so important to find whatever it was anyway? He had so many questions with the main one still being why? He growled in frustration and he wondered if he was ever going to get out of the maze, or if he was going to die from chakra exhaustion before he even got close.

He walked along miserably in no mood to talk to Alien. He passed the time by staring quizzically at the walls. He went over all that he knew and tried to put the pieces together. Alien had sealed the Kyuubi away to enter his mind and refused to help him through the maze because she insisted he had to do it himself. The maze hadn't appeared until he had actually sought her out instead of her calling to him first. She had told him she wasn't the one that had put the maze there. If she hadn't, than who had? He had run through the maze never seeming to get anywhere, and she wouldn't help him. A thought that hadn't occurred to him before suddenly entered his mind.

She had told him she wouldn't help him because he had to figure it out himself. Did he have to figure it out himself because she somehow wasn't **allowed** to help him? He stopped walking in light of this revelation. Alien was seemed so powerful that he had never entertained the idea of her working under someone else's whim.

"These symbols," he said aloud to her. "They all mean something right?"

"**Yes. Why?**" Tallah asked.

"You said something before about not being the one who put this maze in my mind. Who did?"

Tallah was silent for a few minutes. "**She's not from the East Gate.**" She said surprising Naruto, who had expected the usual answer. "**The symbols are from the West Gate, the world of her origin.**"

His confidence was somewhat boosted at finally receiving some answers. "Is there any way to read them?" he asked smiling.

"**You knew how once.**" She replied.

Naruto frowned. The answer frustrated him, but he was convinced he was finally asking the right questions. "How did I know? What was the secret?"

"**Figure it out again and you'll find what you seek.**" She said in a finalizing tone. "**This is all the help I can give.**"

Naruto nodded. He was unsatisfied, but it would have to do. The more he looked at the symbols the more he tried to recall the seal books Jiraiya had tried to get him to memorize. As the info he could recall all came together in his mind, he realized the trend that had been bugging him for days. They signs making up the symbols were all backwards. Alien said the creator of the maze was not from the East Gate. She was from another world, the West Gate. If the maze owner was from the west gate did that mean the symbols were backwards because his world was in the East Gate? Before he knew what was happening he began rearranging the symbols. He panicked slightly as it seemed like something possessed his hands twisting the symbols and rearranging them into patterns he didn't really understand. As his hands began working faster and faster the seals began glowing brightly seeming to course through his whole being. The light all at once became so bright he couldn't see anything but white.

Just as he was about to shout for Alien to help him, he heard a new voice loud and clear in his head as if it was speaking to the very core of his being. "What are you looking for?" Suddenly nothing mattered. All the worries and fears that had consumed him left his mind. What had he been looking for? "Why are you here?" the voice asked. The voice was so familiar. He could only make out a blurry shape in the midst of all the white. He was frightened as the shape got closer. He didn't know. He couldn't move. "Why do you have to hurry?" Naruto stopped fighting as the he realized how small the shape was. "What did you lose?" Naruto recognized the voice as that of a child. What did he lose? As he stared at the shape the blur faded and with a jolt he recognized the voice's owner. It was him. The child Naruto had once been years ago smiled up at him. "You only get one word, one chance. That's how the seal works." His younger self said. "Answer the question."

Naruto reached out a hand in awe. He was surprised when the tip of his finger hit something hard. Curious Naruto spread out his hand. As his vision cleared Naruto realized what the seals had combined to make. It was a mirror. His tiny reflection mirrored his own. "What are looking for?" he asked again. "One word. Remember the last question." Naruto wracked his brain trying to find the answer. Alien said figuring out the seals would give him what he wanted. A way out? No, that couldn't be it. The maze had been designed to help him find what Alien said he was missing. The girl in his images? Maybe, but girl was too broad an answer. He needed a name. He couldn't remember her name. Naruto's breath stilled. Memories. Was that what he was missing? All those images were memories. It all suddenly made sense. "Do you have your answer?" he younger self asked. "What are you looking for?" Naruto was about to reply with his newfound revelation when something stopped him. It was an odd sensation he didn't understand. One that felt both familiar and foreign at the same time. "_One word. Remember the last question."_It breathed.

Naruto blinked in realization. It was a trick question. The seal knew he would realize what was missing and answer memories. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. The last question his younger image asked him wasn't "What are you missing?" His last question was "What are you looking for?" What was he looking for? Answers? No it was simpler than that. A word he had yet to think of. Suddenly the same odd sensation came over him again, and he smiled. Alien had been right. He did know how once, and he still did. The answer was as much a part of him as his own chakra network. He smiled. His younger self mirrored it. "What are you looking for?" he asked one last time. "The Truth." Naruto said. The mirror shattered under his hand leaving an opening to the path that would lead him out of the maze.

Naruto's grin lit up his whole face as he felt his chakra being restored. He lifted his head about to yell in triumph to Alien when his whole mind shook. He gave a yelp as he fell to the ground. He heard Alien yell faintly. "**I am going to kill..!**" Before he could finish hearing the thought, he was pulled violently from sleep. He lay there panting in shock for several minutes before one thought surfaced over all the others running through his head. What just happened?

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile <strong>

Sakura stared at Fae for the umpteenth hundredth time that evening. She hadn't expected bringing her in to be this easy. In fact, considering the thieves had a track record extending to more nations than the sand she thought she'd at least get a fight from the girl. However, she was just letting Sakura drag her along. To top matters off she had spent most of the time telling her a story about a boy trying to get his love to kiss him back to life because the guardian of death or something told him he wasn't supposed to die yet and was being given a second chance. (1) She rolled her eyes at the fairly talkative prisoner. She was 99% sure the girl was doing it just to tick her off.

"So why all the decoys?" she asked interrupting the girl's story.

"Don't you already know the answer to that? Your file said you were pretty smart." Fae replied sarcastically.

Sakura frowned. So she had known who she was as soon as she had seen her. She sighed. "Well I don't suppose you're actually going to tell me what you're really stealing now are you?"

"Shouldn't Kankuro be interrogating me?" Fae asked her. "After all the Leaf isn't the authority here."

Sakura was tempted to take out her kunai and press it to the back of the girl's neck. She had made it her mission to push every one of Sakura's buttons as soon as she had captured her. She let out an exasperated sigh. "Let's start with something simple then. How did your friend break into the archives?" The girl surprised her by actually responding. "I work there. You said as much back in the market." Sakura glanced at the girl's bandaged arm. "You were caught in the explosion." It wasn't a question and the girl didn't bother to answer it. "You're making a mistake." she said instead. Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Is that a threat?" She said tone dangerous. The girl rolled her eyes giving Sakura another sense of déjà vu. "It's a statement. I don't have time to get thrown in jail and you don't have time to arrest me. You've scratched the surface, but you have no idea what the rest of the story looks like."

Sakura was confused. Fae obviously was not willing to go to jail, but she wasn't fighting to get away from her either. In fact, other than the sarcastic comments and baiting, she was being so civil Sakura was convinced something was wrong. "Unless you're willing to enlighten me, I have plenty of time to see Kankuro throw you and the rest of your group behind bars." The girl glared at her. "Someone from Konohagakure has no right to call me a thief after all the corrupt things your elders have done to get the village where it is." She said bitterly. Sakura blinked at the girl's hostility. "You should mind your tongue thief. Konohagakure is one of the most respected ninja villages in this land." Fae looked her right in the eyes and sent shivers down Sakura's spine. "Are you really that naïve," she said calmly. "Or did they really do such a wonderful job covering up the Uchiha Massacre and the Anbu base explosion?"

Sakura was getting a little intimidated now. As harmless as she seemed Fae obviously knew a lot about Konoha, and she was obviously very sure of herself. That made her dangerous. Sakura gripped her kunai tightly. "You should keep quiet about matters that don't concern you." She said pointing it at the back of the girl's neck threateningly. "And you should've put me in hand cuffs when you had the chance." Fae replied. Before Sakura knew what was happening Fae had kicked her in the stomach shoving her backward and was making a run for it. Sakura recovered from the hit and pursued her. She was tough to follow. She was good at dodging things and knocking them in front of Sakura. She bit her lip. The market was in an uproar thanks to the girls antics and people were wondering why a leaf ninja was chasing someone they apparently knew.

Sakura wondered exactly where the girl was heading when she started seeing trees. She recognized the scenery and realized Fae was heading somewhere on the outskirts of the town. Even though Suna was mostly dessert, it had a section on the outskirts of the village made up by an oasis. (2) For some reason she couldn't pinpoint, Sakura began feeling nervous. It wasn't until then that she realized the direction Fae was heading had no other chakra signatures. She slowed her pace suddenly realizing the danger she was in.

Fae wouldn't just escape and lead her directly to the other thieves. It was then she realized Fae's chakra had been standing still for the past ten minutes. She had walked into a trap. By the time this realization set in it was too late. The steel cable wires loomed all around the frightened Konoichi, and she screamed as Fae sent the rush of lightning all through them electrocuting her.

* * *

><p><strong>1. To those of you who realized this immediately, you're awesome! For those of you who didn't get this reference, the story Fae is telling Sakura is the basic plot of the first few episodes of Yu Yu Hakasho.<strong>

**2. I realize that there is no oasis in Sunagakure in the manga or anime, but it fits my purpose for the story and they live in a darn desert. So in reality it's not a big stretch assuming there's going to be an oasis somewhere in a state that's completely covered in sand.**


	7. Not What it Seems

Sakura screamed. She had never been electrocuted before. It was like the harsh flecks of purple light were searing her very skin from the inside out. In other words it hurt like Hell. The sensation finally stopped and she face planted on the ground heaving in pain. She had underestimated Fae. She moved her head so she could look above her. She spotted Fae with her hands on the wire where she had sent the lightning through. Sakura quickly sprang to her feet, kunai drawn, ready for a fight. She was surprised when Fae just stood there. She was the one who had challenged Sakura after all.

Sakura coughed up blood. She painfully moved her hand trying to heal enough damage to fight. Why Fae wasn't finishing her off yet Sakura didn't know, but stalling might be enough to keep her alive. After a long time of them staring each other down Fae was the first to speak. "You ran after me." She stated plainly. "I was hoping you wouldn't." Sakura grimaced. "You tried to kill me." She managed to say through her shaky breaths. Fae frowned. Sakura glared through the pain. Why did she keep having déjà vu when she looked at her face? "Believe me Sakura," Fae said simply. "If I wanted to kill you you'd be dead."

Sakura grimaced as more pain shot through her. Her skin had been significantly charred from the lightning so she had patches of red sported all over her. She gripped her kunai for extra protection. She was still too weak at the moment to put any chakra in her fist. She took note that the girl's arm was unwrapped. "What is that anyway, a gang tattoo?" she asked eyeing the black dragon wrapped around the girl's arm. "It's my birthmark." Fae said simply.

Sakura blinked. Birthmark? Fae tipped her head and frowned again. "I know you're just stalling me so you can get the information you need before I kill you Sakura. I also want some information from you though. So we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Sakura smiled. She had kept her talking long enough to repair the important damage. "Funny," she said. "Those were my thoughts exactly."

She flipped landing on her feet and lifted her fist feeding the green chakra in them like Tsunade had taught her to do. She wasted no time banging her fist into the ground making the rocks fly. Fae looked surprised and lost her footing on the branch. Sakura smirked triumphantly and tried to rush the girl. Her fist shot out and she hit air. Sakura froze in shock as the figure she had been planning to put a fist into blurred and disappeared. She recovered just in time to find Fae's leg in her face. She was still in shock at the sheer speed she showed when she was slammed into a tree. Sakura stared at the girl incredulously.

The girl smiled at her surprised expression. "You didn't actually think it would be easy to beat me did you?" Sakura stated coldly, "Y'know there were a lot of bleary headed guards at all those facilities. Does Genjutsu happen to be in your forte?" Fae smirked. Before Sakura could blink she was in front of her with two Sai* in her hands. One of the Sai was pointed directly at her throat. "You really are smart. I bet they tell lots of stories about you back in Konoha." Sakura recovered and used the medical jutsu she knew to mess up some of the nerves in the hand holding the Sai to her throat. The girl dropped it in surprise as her wrist started twitching uncontrollably. She jumped back from Sakura frowning. Sakura grinned.

She had damaged the girl's wrist enough where it was difficult for the girl to dodge her punches and kicks. Sakura refused to let up striking out at all available places she knew would put the girl out long enough for her to gain the upper hand. Fae was better than she thought though. She just kept dodging around the punches and kicks refusing to get caught. Finally, Sakura saw an opening next to her left ear. If she hit it with enough force she could make Fae disoriented long enough to capture her, or so she thought. As she shot out her hand to deliver the blow Fae blocked her fist with her forearm. With a cold sense of dread Sakura realized that the girl had purposefully left herself open and she had just taken the bait. Fae shoved her fist to the side and quickly straightened her forearm delivering a flat blow to Sakura's sternum. The force sent Sakura staggering back onto the ground. "Now just stay there and this'll be over a lot faster." Fae told her.

"You wish!" Sakura yelled pulling herself upright. Before she could even move to attack Fae started making a series of hand signs. She gasped as some kind of purple seal appeared under her feet. She tried to move, but couldn't. Chains shot from the ground pulling her to her knees and making her screech in pain. "What is this!?" Fae crouched in front of her with an unreadable expression. "It's an alchemy designed to keep you still and sap up your chakra if you try to move." Fae said settling in a crouching position in front of the girl. "In other words try not to move. You'll just make it harder for yourself." Sakura struggled trying to get free of the chains. They tightened around her body restraining her and squeezing hard where she was pretty sure the girl had broken two of her ribs. Fae winced. "What…is…alkaymay?" Sakura gasped out.

Fae gazed at her curiously. "You're trapped and you want to know what alchemy is? I think you have other things to worry about." Sakura struggled some more. "What… are you… thieves planning?" she gasped out. "And what… do you know about my village?" Fae looked surprised by her question. "I know a lot of things about Konoha." she said. "It'd be sad if I didn't considering I lived there." Sakura was shocked. She knew all the thieves might not be from the Suna, but she didn't think any of them were from Konoha. Fae cocked her head curiously. "You really don't recognize me huh? I guess I have been away for awhile. I know Uzumaki Naruto is the container of the Kyuubi. I know Uchiha Itachi was at large until Uchiha Sasuke killed him three months ago. I know the fifth Hokage is in a coma, and Danzo is using every chance he can get to start a fourth Ninja War. Any other questions?" Sakura's blood had gone cold. How did she know all of that? Why did she think Sakura would've recognized her? "Who are you?" she asked in dread.

Fae had gained control back in her wrist now, and suddenly grabbed Sakura's face with the Sai pointed at her throat again. "Who I am and who the rest of my team is doesn't matter." Sakura growled at her. Fae considered her gaze thoughtfully. She surprised Sakura when she started speaking again. "I've been stationed at the archives for about three months. I was in charge of one of the scroll rooms in the East wing. I was outside first though. I cloaked my partner, Riyu, in the North West hall with my Genjutsu. I had to do this outside so I didn't accidently trigger any of Al's bombs. I'd placed the bombs in the walls when they sent me on an inspection round a week earlier. The bombs were a precaution in case anything went wrong. In this case, something did go wrong. I exhausted my chakra and my genjutsu broke revealing Riyu to the guards. I pretended to rush with the others to aid the guards with everyone else, but what I really did was send my chakra to the bombs through the communications network in the walls. The other explosions were delayed because the chakra wasn't flowing fast enough. Al, who was waiting in the woods, took Riyu the rest of the way back to the hideout. The rest is history. "

Sakura gaped at her. "Why did you tell me that?" Fae smirked. "Call it insurance for later. You can't say I didn't give anything for all your trouble." Sakura wrinkled her brow confused. She flashed back to the part of the girl's story that stood out to her. "You exhausted your chakra?" Fae flashed her a smile. "I think even I'm entitled to take some secrets to my grave." Sakura glared at the girl. She sighed. "To be fair I gave you two of my teammate's names, and told you that we've been here for more than just a month. I believe I've been more than helpful." Sakura tensed as the girl stood up straight dusting the dirt off her pants. So this was it. She was going to die a heaping, pathetic mess not even able to defend herself properly. "Are you going to kill me now?" She had expected a sneer, a jab, even silence. What she hadn't expected was Fae's calm response. "No." "What?" She questioned. Fae looked her straight in the eyes. "I'm not going to kill you."

Sakura blinked in disbelief and confusion. She had just been threatening death to her only a few minutes ago. Sakura stared at her confused. "If you're not going to kill me then what are you planning to do? You can't tell me you're just going to walk away and leave me out here knowing all of this." Fae stared at her. "You're right. I think you're familiar with the Yamanaka clan's talents?" Sakura didn't like where the conversation was going. "I don't share that talent," she explained carefully. "But I do have other means I can pull from to create the desired effect."

Sakura was startled as the girl was suddenly in front of her again moving a hand toward her head. Her eyes glowed a threatening red. "What are you doing?" She asked in fear. The girl looked at her. "Just so you know," she said. "This isn't something I enjoy." Fae placed her hand on the girl's forehead and her voice seemed miles away. "You won't remember for a while, but for what it's worth I'm sorry." That was the last thing Sakura was aware of before she was overcome by a blinding, shrieking pain and lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Fae just stared at Sakura's now unconscious form. She hadn't had to do that in awhile, and it wasn't something she liked doing now. She didn't like feeling as though she was ripping out a part of a person even though she was only just suppressing the memory temporarily. She just hoped the effects would last long enough to give them time to get the other pieces. They were so close. They only needed three more, and she needed them before Yore managed to find her. She started as she felt another chakra signature get close to her location. However, she relaxed almost immediately as she recognized it. She stood up, releasing the jutsu that was still holding Sakura. The chains that had been restricting her and the strange symbol disappeared. Airi's form stepped out from the trees. "I was hoping to warn you before something like this happened." She said glancing at Sakura. "I guess I was a little late." Fae looked wary.<p>

"The herbs take longer than you thought?"

Airi shook her head and glanced at Sakura. "I was a little more concerned with Naruto to tell you the truth, but he was sleeping so I decided to help Al steal back our dud bomb instead."

Fae smiled wryly. "You could've been caught you know."

Airi dismissed her statement with a wave of her hand. "We were fine. On the other hand don't you think your means were a little extreme?"

Fae sweat dropped. "Yeah, but I couldn't think of a better way that doesn't involve half the ninja envoys after us."

Airi looked at her for a few seconds. "…What are you going to do with her? We can't leave her here."

Fae nodded straightening out and stretching. "Can you take her back to her hotel without getting caught? I stirred up the market just a little bit."

Airi's expression grew serious. "You're going to have to stop avoiding Naruto you know. You're also going to have to stop avoiding Riyu. He's well enough to at least confront you."

Fae frowned. "Don't remind me. I'm already dreading it."

Airi scoffed. "He's one of your best friends. At least give him some form of an answer. He already knows about everything. The least you can do is telling him what the price is if Naruto can't remember."

Airi then dropped her serious demeener. "By the way," she said jokingly. "Rin Fae? I thought you hated that nickname." Fae pouted at her best friend. "It was all I could come up with for a temporary name." she retorted. Airi smiled and lifted the unconscious Sakura on her back with no effort whatsoever. She faced Fae.

"I'll be back in a little while. Tell Riyu to keep puking."

Fae raised an eyebrow. "Um. Ew." She said making Airi laugh.

Fae shook her head turning to head off in the opposite direction she had been leading Sakura. "Anyway," She said. "Don't get caught."

"Hey."She stopped not turning around to face the girl. "You did the right thing. It was a stupid thing," Airi scolded her. "But it was right all the same."

Fae's form relaxed and she nodded her head. As she leaped through the trees towards where they lived she turned Airi's words over in her head. After contemplating them for a while she sighed. She wasn't sure she knew what the right thing was anymore.

* * *

><p>Naruto was in the living area of the hotel room trying to figure out what had happened in the dream. His head still hurt from how much chakra the maze had drained from him. He was surprised to find, however, there didn't seem to be anything draining his chakra anymore. Maybe the seals had been draining him all along. He was contemplating this when there was a knock at his door.<p>

Naruto looked at his clock. It was almost 5:00. He hadn't realized how long he had slept. It was probably Kankuro coming to inform him and Sakura about how they were going to conduct the interrogations. He opened the door and was surprised to see a worried looking Temari. "Temari," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"Some troubling matters have arisen." She replied. "The Kazekage wants you and Sakura in his office immediately."

Troubling matters? What did that mean? "We'll be there as soon as Sakura gets back." He replied.

Temari's gaze narrowed. "She's not back yet?"

Naruto shrugged. "I guess she hasn't been back since I left her." He examined her troubled gaze and began to worry himself. "You don't think something's happened to her do you?" Temari looked away thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. I'll go look for her. I suggest you head toward Gaara's office." Naruto nodded and Temari disappeared. He closed the door and stared at the floor for a moment. He hadn't thought about Sakura being so late coming back until Temari had mentioned it. He remembered her and Kankuro attacking the chakra signature at the Archives that morning. He was about to go look for her himself despite what Temari had said when he heard a crash from the back. He whipped his head around and rushed to the bedroom. He froze on the other side of the doorway.

A girl was perched on the window to the bedroom. She was crouched on it looking down at the vase she had just knocked onto the floor. Her expression clearly indicated she hadn't known it was there. It would've been almost comical if the girl hadn't been holding an unconscious Sakura over her shoulder. "What the hell are you doing with Sakura!" he yelled at her baring his Kunai to attack. The girl looked up startled. "Aw man." She said. "I thought you left already." Naruto lunged at the girl. She wasn't in a position to move outside of the window so she dodged to the left inside of the room. He missed her by a couple of inches. He was about to attack again when the girl stopped him. She held her free hand up in a back off gesture. "Hey, I didn't come to fight you. You'd lose anyway with your chakra that spent."

It was then that Naruto took the time to really examine the girl. She was fairly dark skinned with her brown hair in a braid that cascaded down to her hip. The hue matched her skin so well it was unnerving. She was wearing a dirty light brown skirt that looked a lot like Sakura's pink one over dark brown leggings that stopped a few inches above her knee. She wore a dark gray tank top with a dirty, patched up pull over t-shirt that looked like it had once been a light pink, but was now severally faded with a couple of maroon patches where it had ripped. It stopped mid-torso with the tank top covering the rest. Her eyes were a bright blue. He could also see a black dragon tattoo faintly on her shoulder where Sakura's weight had pulled her sleeve down. His eyes widened in recognition. "You!" he yelled suddenly making the girl raise her eyebrow. "You're Airi! You're the one who broke out of jail with Tia!"

Airi gave an exasperated sigh. "I was really hoping to avoid this."

"What did you do to Sakura?" Naruto practically growled.

"Look, Naruto, I didn't do anything to her. All I did was bring her here."

Naruto froze. "How do you know my name?"

She smiled. "You didn't really think you and Sakura were the only ones gathering intel did you? Besides, I met you 2 years ago."

"What?" Naruto said confused. He met her when he was 12?

Airi waved at him. "As much as I would love to stay and chat I'd rather get out before anyone else catches me. It was nice seeing you again."

Before Naruto could say anything else she had laid Sakura down in front of her and disappeared out the window. Dumbfounded he scooped up Sakura and put her in the bed. She would need a hospital, but he had to go see Gaara first. He clenched his fist at his side. Airi had known his name. She said she had met him before just like Alien. What was their connection to him? More than ever he wanted to know just exactly what she and the other thieves were really after, and what his missing memories had to do with them.

* * *

><p>"They what?!" Naruto yelled. The Kazekage winced at the blonde's pitch. Naruto had informed him what had transpired in the hotel room. Kankuro was in the other corner of the room looking troubled. Temari had rushed Sakura to a hospital and had yet to return. Gaara tried to regard him with a calm gaze. "Exactly what I said Naruto. Kankuro went to check on Terumi and Carl to ask if they could use the chakra signature in the bomb during investigations, and they were knocked out. The bomb was nowhere to be found. Naruto shook with anger. "So you're telling me we just lost our only lead to finding one or possibly all of the thieves?!" Gaara shook his head. "Obviously not. Sakura was onto something when she was attacked. Airi's appearance in the hotel proved as much. Sakura could have valuable information when she wakes up."<p>

Kankuro spoke up. "That's not the only reason we brought you here Naruto." Naruto stopped shaking and looked to Gaara for an explanation. Gaara, regretfully, held up a paper off his desk. "Shizune has requested you and Sakura return immediately to the village. I've already made arrangements for Sakura to be transferred safely out of our care." "Why?" Naruto asked him. Gaara sighed knowing the news would pain his friend even more than it pained him. "As the sixth Hokage, Danzo has called a Kage meeting to order in the Land of Iron. Also…" he paused as if unsure whether to continue or not. Naruto tensed. "What is it?" he asked. Gaara sighed. "He has ordered that Sasuke be declared a traitor for his crimes with the Akatsuki and hunted down and killed for them." Naruto's face fell. Gaara felt nothing, but pity. "Kankuro will escort you back to the hotel." Naruto nodded dumbly letting his brother lead him from the room. "He's going to do something reckless." Temari noted. Gaara said nothing. After all, his sister was probably right. Something else was bothering him though.

"Penny for your thoughts?" his sister questioned. "I'm beginning to think our little thieves have nothing to do with Danzo or Madara's petty advances towards war." Gaara told her. "The attack on Sakura has made it clear that they don't want to be found nor do they want their intentions known by anyone, let alone the Kages." Temari nodded. "I see what you mean, but we still don't know what it is they're after." Gaara was trying to think of this very answer when an idea struck him. "Temari," he said. "Do you think Kankuro would recognize the chakra he felt this afternoon?" Temari looked confused then her gaze dawned with understanding. "You want him to search through the employment regards for the archives don't you?" Gaara nodded. The archives were high security facilities. You were required to give a piece of your chakra as proof of employment before working at any of the five facilities. "Also," he said pulling out the sketch of the boy the guard had seen. "Make a copy for our records, and send this to one of our allies in Iwagakure to show around the Shimari refugee camp. This boy's physical description fits that of the survivors of the Hikari Civil War. Have him show the villagers and see if they recognize him." Temari nodded. Gaara dismissed her and wrote Kankuro a note to search through the chakra of all the guards that had been hired in the past five months. They were going to get to the bottom of these thefts declaration of war or not.


	8. No Honor in Affairs

**Orochimaru's 5****th**** Hideout (abandoned)**

Riyu opened his eyes. It took him a moment to realize exactly where he was. He sat up painfully still feeling the poison from that sand shinobi's dart work through his system. Though Airi was an excellent medic-nin she had never delved much in the area of poisons. She told him the only thing she was going to be able to do was treat him with a serum for a few days and, as far as he understood, it would make him puke up the poison from his system. Not the most desirable method in the world, but when he had expressed this she simply told him, "Your choices are deal with it or die, and since no one here wants you six feet under you can put on your big boy pants and deal with it." Riyu sighed at the memory. There was something degrading about being told off by a short, sixteen-year old with a bouncy braid.

Riyu looked around scanning the medical room. It wasn't an overly impressive room. They were underground so everything was either concrete or brick to keep the dirt out. The room was grey with a wood cabinet for Airi's medical supplies and two beds that served as operating tables. There was a bookshelf and one single light on the ceiling. He didn't like staying in here. It reminded him to much of the punishment rooms in Orochimaru's underground prison. He shook his head driving the thought from his mind.

He looked up again as his eyes finally adjusted to the light and realized he wasn't alone in the room. Al(1) was sitting across from him in a corner. Riyu smirked as he realized the kid was completely immersed in some book he was reading. That's pretty much what Al was known for: getting lost in a book and making bombs. Riyu thanked God he wasn't as eccentric with those things as Deidara. That guy had been nuts. Looking at him you wouldn't be able to tell Al was such a master with bombs. He looked as harmless as they came with his dirty-blonde hair tied back in a pony tail and his matching eyes totally absorbed in his book. "What are you doing in here?" he asked the boy bluntly. Ugh. He sounded like he had a stick shoved down his throat. Al looked up from his book startled. "Oh, Riyu you're up. Sorry I didn't realize." He gave an apologetic smile closing the book.

Riyu snorted trying to sit up. "I know how you get when you're reading. Don't worry I haven't been up that long. You didn't answer my question." Al scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Airi asked me to give you another shot when you woke up. She told me it would probably be the last one and to try to take it easy as much as you could because you'd be hugging the toilet later." Riyu grimaced then looked around curiously. "Where is she anyway? I thought she was coming back with you after you got the dud bomb."

Al nodded. "She was, but she said she wanted to make sure Fae was ok since she was late getting back. You feeling alright?" Riyu rubbed his head as he moved into a somewhat upright position. "Aside from the pain shooting through my body and the annoying headache I'd say I'm doing fine." He said sarcastically. Al chuckled. "Touché." Then he got serious all of the sudden. "You hate it in here don't you?" Riyu was caught off guard by the sudden question, but he didn't have to ask what he meant. "…Yes" Al shifted his eyes to the floor. "Sorry." Riyu looked at the ceiling focusing on trying to block out the pain again. Al spoke up again. "You and Ryu and Fae scream a lot in your sleep." Riyu frowned. "You seriously go out of your way to cross the bridge everybody else avoids don't you Al?" He could see Al smirk out of the corner of his eye. "It's just another way of learning something new to me."

Riyu rolled his eyes. "Ok in all seriousness get off your butt and give me the stupid shot. I think I'd rather be puking than staying here any longer."Al scowled at that declaration and got up to get the needle and formula. He surprised Riyu by pausing before giving him the shot. "What's up?"Al shook his head giving the shot to Riyu and putting it in the sink for Airi to sterilize. Riyu was surprised when he sat back down against the wall. "You ok Al?" he asked.

Al sighed. "Look I've tried not to think about what we're doing with all the thefts but we've been stealing these stupid gems for over a year now. We're basically fugitives in almost every Land. I know this is important, but do we even have a Plan B if Naruto can't get his memories back?" Riyu blinked at him. "You know we do Al. Fae has one." Al scratched the back of his head again. "Yeah, but she's not telling anyone what it is. It's not like her to shut everyone out like she has been. Even you have to admit there's something wrong with this picture."

Riyu was silent. What could he say? He was honestly pissed at Fae. He thought they had all long passed the point they kept secrets from each other. Then they started stealing these gems and it was like she had slammed up a wall. He and Al sat in silence until he heard a door open. He recognized the chakra signature at the same time Al did.

The room opened revealing a very exhausted and very agitated Fae. She stood there in her sand-nin garb sporting several bruises. The thing that alarmed Riyu though was her arm was out of its bandage and she acted like she was guilty about something. Al looked like he was trying to figure out how to blend into the wall. Nobody enjoyed it whenever something was bothering the 5'3 sixteen-year old. She was like a mix between a kicked puppy and a feisty panther. Al, wanting to leave the room yet avoid being rude said the first thing that popped in his head. "You look like a bird used you for target practice. What happened?" Riyu face palmed while the raven-haired girl just stared at him.

After a minute, she looked at Riyu and pointing at Al asked, "Can we make a live action story about a bomb maker who tests his material out on himself?" Al sweat dropped and Riyu sighed. He knew very well she would never actually hurt Al. Besides he was still pissed at her. "No we can't." He said from the medical bed. "It's not Al's fault you decided to take the scenic route through the forest. Take your anger out on something else. Besides," he said looking her square in the face. "We need to talk."

Fae's uncomfortable expression clearly said she **did not** want to talk, but she sat down on the other bed anyway. Al chose that moment to leave the room giving them some much needed space. Riyu faced his best friend who was still glaring at him defiantly. She didn't look like she had gotten any rest at all and you could tell she had been in a fight. "What happened?" he asked. She glanced at him smirking slightly. "Want the long story or the short?" Riyu smirked right back knowing she was being a smart-aleck. "Short please, and if you can manage I prefer you keep it down to a single sentence." The girl sighed. "You spoil all my fun." She said. Riyu made a get on with it motion with his hand. "The female ninja from Konoha tried to tail me and we had a fight." She finally said. Riyu raised an eyebrow. "What did you do during the fight that drained half your chakra?" Fae fidgeted uncomfortably. "…Memory suppression."

Riyu widened his eyes keeping his temper in check. "Was that really necessary?" Fae crossed her arms and looked away from him. "All taking her hostage would've accomplished is more ninja on our tail." Riyu rolled his eyes. "That wouldn't be an issue if we weren't stealing from them." She stared at the wall defiantly refusing to acknowledge his point. Riyu sighed. "Are you ready to explain why you and Tallah are refusing to share our plan B or are you going to be an ass about that too?" Fae snapped her head up and gave him one of the iciest glares he had seen in a while. "…I am not doing this right now."

Riyu looked at her eyes. Lately they were a blank wall he kept banging on that wouldn't budge no matter how hard he tried to knock it down. He scoffed at her. "Yeah, whatever Fae. Just go to bed. You look like you need the sleep. Obviously, Tallah doesn't agree with you sneaking around and keeping secrets either." She stood up and probably would've argued back if she hadn't been so worn out. "What she thinks doesn't matter right now. And **don't** call me Fae anymore. I hate that stupid nickname you and your brother gave me." She said harshly storming out of the room. Riyu narrowed his eyes. "Fine. Goodnight **Lori**." He winced as she slammed the door causing his headache to flare back up. "She did that on purpose." He grumbled laying back.

He was definitely worried about whatever she was planning, but they did have priorities that needed to be worked out first. He got up with some difficulty and left the medical room. He traveled down the long hallway toward Tia's room. He hated to ask the ex-assassin for anything, but it was necessary since Lori was bent on getting that stupid green gem. He sighed and knocked. "What!" Tia yelled from the other side of the door. She seriously needed to work on her people skills. "Can I come in?" Riyu called.

"Who the **** is it?!"

He sweat dropped. "Riyu."

"…long hair?" she said after a pause.

Riyu face palmed. "Yes."

"You can come in."

Riyu sighed and opened her door just a crack to make sure she wasn't armed. He eyed the blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl sitting on the edge of the bed. "You're not gonna throw anything at me right?" he asked. "By the way, it's sad that you've been traveling with us for over a year and you still can't tell the difference between me and my brother." She frowned at him. "I wasn't gonna throw anything, and you're identical twins so **** you." Riyu frowned at her. The room was a mess. Tia realized his train or thought and glared at him.

"I'm going stir crazy!" she yelled. "First they lock me up in prison, now I get locked down here!"

Riyu sighed in exasperation. "You know you and Airi have to stay down here because the Sand Shinobi know your faces."

"And yet Airi **isn't **here." She said angrily.

"Which is why I'm in here if you would shut up and listen for two seconds." He replied.

Tia finally looked up at him. She sat up straight and faced him looking him right in the eyes. "You have my attention." She said. Riyu shivered and nodded. "Ok." He said. "Obviously the theft at the archives failed and I'm gonna be puking in a couple of hours. Airi and Ryu still aren't back, Al needs to work on the bombs for our next target, and Lori's chakra reserves are exhausted for the moment." Tia looked at him curiously. "What was she doing?" Riyu sighed not caring to justify any of the raven's actions at this point. "Right now it doesn't matter. What does matter is that I need you to go finish my job for me before they hike up security any higher. Can you do that?" Tia gave him one of those grins that made your hair stand on end. "Any excuse to get above ground for awhile." She said cracking her knuckles. Riyu nodded. "No casualties please." He reminded her. "No worries." She replied offhandedly.

Riyu nodded and got up to leave. "You know we don't have to deal with her otherworldly ****." She said making him pause. It was easy to forget how in tune the woman could be. "If you hate what we're doing so much why are we still here?" She questioned. Riyu's mind went back to a shaggy, raven haired girl taking the whip for him in the mines. "She's my family." He said. Tia shifted her gaze to him chilling his very bones. "Family can break you and everything you love in the most painful way. Lori's living proof of that." She said simply. Riyu straightened up shaking the assassin's hold on him. "No one's asking you to stay. You know where the door is." He said leaving the room. He smiled as he heard Tia's reply. "I'll get the stupid thing in the morning."

* * *

><p>Yore paced back and forth in her apartment. The lines of the floor were starting to blur together. Red flooded her vision again and she whimpered watching someone who wasn't there get stabbed through the stomach. "Don't you ever get tired of tutoring me?!" she yelled at no one. She was in no mood to be crippled by Truths petty idea of justice. She was assaulted again with the image of a brown haired girl she knew all too well staring at her as the blood ran down her slit throat. Yore growled. "You may as well give up Truth!" she yelled again. "I don't feel guilty!"<p>

The image came back again from the girl's perspective and Yore winced as she watched herself slice the girl's throat. Not enough to kill, but definitely enough to maim and spill blood. "You wouldn't understand." She rambled to the air. "They didn't care about me. They were my family and they were going to let me die! I don't feel guilty. I don't!" Yore tore her hands through her hair. It was the Dragon's fault. One stupid moment in time, and she had managed to completely and royally screw her over.

Yore drove her fist into the wall in a random fit of rage. "That ***** Tallah! I'll kill her! I swear I will!" The blood entered her vision again. "I DON'T FEEL GUILTY!" She yelled as loud as she could. She had made her decision. Danzo did not rule her, and she was going after the escort they were sending for Naruto whether he wanted her to or not. Besides, she was bound to find information that would be of use to her other friend as well.

Yore exited swiftly through the window. She quickly maneuvered through the village to where the escort was being sent out. She followed after him escaping anyone's notice. She grinned. Danzo hadn't made her his ally for no reason after all. She remembered the day she had arrived here four years ago very clearly. The gate had left her weak when she passed over. It was always harder on the body when the bridge builder wasn't building willingly. She shook off the blood that filled her vision again. She had ended up in his academy and several of his students had tried to attack her. She grinned remembering the surprise on their faces when she had clapped her hands together and electrocuted most of them. They were perfectly humiliated being beaten by a twelve-year old. Danzo hungered after her power and was as easy to manipulate as a dog and his chew toy.

She had become his right hand woman in short period of time and was in a position to further her own goals. She grinned. How she had enjoyed the Keeper of the Gate of Darkness' screams. She stopped her reverie as she saw the sand village's wall loom up ahead. She slipped with the escort through the gate undetected. Safely inside the sand village, she wondered how she would get the information she needed out of the blonde. It would be too hard inside the village since they were already on high alert from the thefts. She tracked his signature to one of the hotels. She watched his sleeping form only to be frustrated when she could no longer feel the signature she had been looking for. It took all of her willpower not to screech with theory. She was so close to finding the little tramp. In the end, she decided she would tail him on the way back to Konoha and search for the source. Just a little longer.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up feeling refreshed for once. He looked out the window to see the sun streaming in. He found it strange that despite the fact his body had been suffering from the dreamscape he kind of missed talking to Alien. He thought back to what had happened last time. When the mirror shattered a new path had appeared that lead to what he assumed was the end of the maze. Then everything had started shaking and Alien had yelled something before Naruto woke up. He had played the scene through his mind over and over again, but he still couldn't figure out what had happened. He would confirm his other suspicions after he confronted the Sasuke problem back in Konoha.<p>

The hospital here had already transferred Sakura to Shizune back in the leaf village. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was about time to head over to the gate and meet up with the leaf-shinobi they had sent to escort him back to Konoha. He didn't know why he needed one, but Shizune had insisted on it. Just as he was about to head out Kankuro suddenly burst through his door.

"Kankuro? What's going on?" he said surprised.

"You have to hurry with me to the Archives now!" Kankuro shouted.

Naruto stood abruptly knocking over the table. "The Archives? Why? What's happened?"

"They sent Tia, the girl we gave you the file on, to finish the job!" he panted out.

"What?!"

Naruto followed him without another question and they booked it toward the Archives. When they arrived Naruto couldn't help but marvel at the scene before him. The girl had completely broken open the newly repaired gate and ripped a new hole in the west wing. He followed the row of scurrying guards and his eyes landed on the thief in question. She was wearing black fishnet tights with knee high brown boots and a dark green skirt similar to Sakura's pink one. She wore a maroon tank top, and her blonde hair was down blowing wildly behind her. "Her primary jutsu is Wind, but she can use earth too." Warned Kankuro. "She's an ex-assassin so be careful. She probably has a few hidden weapons." Naruto nodded.

After getting into a formation that gave Naruto an edge in case he missed his hit, Kankuro rushed the girl using his puppet crow. "Dodge this!" he yelled aiming a few dozen poison darts at the girl. Tia laughed and whipped out two small fans. She stuck them together as one and used them as a shield against the darts. She then threw one at Crow breaking him in half with the spikes they realized framed the edge of it. Naruto, thinking he could get a hit, tried to rush her at her side only to have her elbow connect with his spine a few seconds later. He crashed to the floor, but rolled out of the way just as her foot was about to come down on his shoulder. Her foot left a nice hole where his shoulder had just been on the ground. She suddenly made several hand signs and a wall of earth came up blocking off the rest of their back up. The wall caused rubble from the ceiling to cave in knocking out Kankuro.

Naruto drew his kunai intending to catch her in her other side. He found himself suddenly locked in an unrelenting stand still with the girl's own kunai. "You must be getting pretty desperate to get this over with if you came out in broad daylight." He told her. She just grinned at him. "I got what we wanted anyway so I don't see how it matters. You should just take your nose out of this before you get killed Blondie." Naruto growled. "Suna is our ally, and Gaara is a trusted friend! Don't tell me it doesn't matter!" He yelled at her breaking the force between the two kunai and throwing her back.

To Naruto's surprise the girl's fist was suddenly in his face and he went flying. He ended up crashing into some rubble. "You've detained me long enough." She said turning to escape. Naruto got up and was about to give chase when he suddenly noticed the pack on her back. There was something glinting inside it. It looked like a gem. Naruto was surprised as he felt an almost familiar wave pass over him when he looked at it. He didn't know why, but he knew it was important somehow. He couldn't let her get away with it. Before the girl could react He was suddenly on his feet with a shadow clone to his left shaping his chakra for his favorite move. "Ransengan!" he yelled rushing her. Tia attempted to block him from her stomach and was surprised when he hit her leg instead. She gave a cry and doubled over. Naruto used this moment to grad the gem without her noticing. Before he knew it she was up again and had a concealed kunai from her boot slashing him across the face.

He was about to retaliate when the sand around him began moving. He looked up to see Gaara beside him with his sand at the ready. He addressed Tia, who had moved back several feet at the Kazekage's arrival on the scene. "I believe you have caused enough trouble for my people. Surrender or I'll take you by force." Tia glared at him defiantly. Gaara and Naruto tensed ready for her retaliation. Gaara began moving his Sand in place for a Sand Coffin, but she surprised them. Tia grinned widely. "Like I'm stupid enough to pick a fight with the Kazekage." She said throwing down a smoke bomb. Naruto covered his mouth while Gaara used his sand to get above it. When the smoke cleared she was gone.

A revived Kankuro suddenly burst through the wall with half the guards behind him. "Naruto! Gaara!" he called. "Are you both alright?" Naruto nodded and faced Gaara. "She may have gotten away, but I managed to get this without her noticing." Kankuro looked at the green gem. "What is it?" he asked. Naruto shrugged. "I was hoping Gaara could tell me." He looked at gem and held it to the sun. The light caught it making it glisten. Those familiar waves Naruto had felt when he had broken the seals rocked through him again as he stared at it. "I think I found what they've been stealing this whole time." He said.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Yes this is Al from Full Metal Alchemist Full Metal Alchimist Brotherhood. However, since my story is dealing with parallel universe's I tried to make him a little different yet similar at the same time to the Al in the FMAB universe. In addition, some of the names I have used in the story are from the two other universes I attached to this fanfiction, Elemental Gelade and Blazeblue. **

**On a side note, I enjoy Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood more than the original because it follows the manga and it's a tad bit more serious and darker. So when I bring Truth into the story Naruto will be in that version of the gate. **

**P.S. Please do not use the review board to comment on my preferences. The last thing I want is someone telling me I'm stupid because I like one version over the other.**


	9. Unraveling

**Orochimaru's 5****th**** Hideout (abandoned)**

Ryu(1) sighed in relief as he finally saw the familiar archway leading to their hideout underground. He was tired after traveling for a week. It would've been 5 days, but he couldn't read the map and had gotten lost. Not that he was going to tell anyone back at the hideout that. He was looking forward to a nice long nap since he hadn't gotten much rest in the Land of Iron. He would debrief everyone on the security around the gem there later. He entered what had been home for the past few months, and sighed in contentment at the peaceful nature of it. A peace that was shattered as a shriek of rage echoed down the hall.

Recognizing Tia's voice, he booked it down to the west hall as fast as he could and busted open the infirmary door. The sight he was seeing could only be described as one of the most humorous and chaotic scenes he had ever seen. "Don't touch it! It ****ing hurts!" Tia yelled at Airi. She was on one of the tables where Airi was trying to examine a deep gash in the girl's leg. "It's going to hurt worse if you don't let me treat it!" Airi yelled back. In the bathroom Ryu could hear someone throwing up. Lori was sitting on the other examination table watching the scene. She looked like she was having trouble deciding whether to laugh or not. "Airi!" he said getting the girl's attention. "What's going on?" Airi turned to answer him when Tia's boot was suddenly in her face.

Airi turned toward where Tia sat on the table. There was a scary fire in her eyes he had never seen before, and hoped never to see again as she glared at the girl. "THAT IS IT!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "I don't care whether or not it hurts. You are going to sit STILL, and let me treat your leg or I swear I will show you exactly how I learned how to use a knife in Orochimaru's slave camp!" Tia shrank back from the girl in surprise at her anger. In the end, she stuck her leg out sheepishly and let Airi treat the gash with her medical jutsu. "I swear," Airi muttered as she treated it. "For an ex-assassin you act like a spoiled 5-year old. Go to your room and rest so it can mend properly." Tia glared, but was still too shocked by her outburst to do anything so she got up and did as she was told.

Airi turned to Ryu finally, though he was afraid she might lash some of her anger out on him as well. He watched as she took a deep breath and let it out. Then, she turned to Lori and said, "You fill him in. I'm tired." She sat on the bed by Lori who proceeded to explain what had happened in third person. It was a weird way to explain it, but he was used to the raven's story telling antics after four years, and got the gist of it. "Alright." He said after she was done. "So basically what you're telling me is: Riyu is puking in the toilet to get rid of the poison in his system, you're suffering from chakra exhaustion because you used alkaymac memory suppression on the Konoichi from the leaf, and Tia went to finish Riyu's job where the other leaf Shinobi gave her a gash on her leg." Airi sighed. "Yes." she deadpanned while Lori muttered something about the word being pronounced "alchemic" under her breath. Ryu whistled. "All the exciting stuff really does happen when I'm gone." Airi gave him a pointed look. "Why were you gone so long anyway? You were only supposed to be gone for a week. You've been gone for two." Ryu sweat dropped and put his hand up to scratch his head. "Well, uh, you see…" "You got lost again didn't you?" pipped up Lori.

Ryu threw up his hands. "You know what? You try reading that stupid map and get everything done in one week!" he said. Airi rolled her eyes and stood up opening one of the cabinets. Ryu frowned hearing his brother throwing up in the other room. All this happened within a week? He shook his head. He didn't understand anything they did lately. The thefts were a mystery to him. He knew they needed the gems to open the portal, but he didn't understand why they were risking their neck to get them. Lori wouldn't even share her back up plan, though Airi seemed to know all about it. She wasn't about to say anything though. Airi tapped his arm taking him out of his musings. "Can you do me a huge favor and watch Riyu while I go get the medicine from Al? He just got back and I don't want to leave Riyu alone in there." Ryu scoffed.

"He's my brother. Of course I'll watch him."

"Thanks." She said

"Hey wait a minute!" Lori said. "I'm here! He wouldn't be by himself!"

Airi grabbed the raven's arm surprising her. Ryu snickered as Airi made off with the girl. "I beg to differ." She told her. "You're going to go rest some more because I'm not reviving your butt if you collapse from chakra exhaustion in the Land of Iron." she said rushing off down the hall. Ryu went to the bathroom where he could hear his brother puking. He leaned against the door waiting for him to finish. He had never questioned Lori's reasons behind her actions before, but this bothered him. If this kept going the way it was they were going to have a lot more shinobi after them. He set aside his worries when his brother finally lifted his head. "Guess you finally found a girl to hug you back huh?" he teased him. Riyu glared at him. "At least I can keep 'em for more than thirty minutes." He shot back. Ryu laughed at him and Riyu smiled. Riyu suddenly got a weird look on his face and stuck his head back over the toilet to barf some more. It was kind of a mood killer. Ryu frowned in worry, and waited until his brother was finished again. "How long does Airi think you'll be doing that?"

Riyu looked up panting. "She said it shouldn't be too much longer since she used whatever was in that needle to keep it all together so it would come out faster."

"Yuck." Ryu commented.

Riyu just nodded. Ryu studied his brother then squatted down next to him. "So what's wrong?" he asked.

Riyu looked at him pointedly. "You mean besides me barfing because I have a bunch of poison in my system?"

"Don't make me poke you."

"I'd probably just puke on you."

Ryu laughed. "Mom always said you could never get captured because all they would have to do is tickle you to death and you'd spill exactly what was on your mind."

Riyu looked at the toilet before replying. "I'm not really sure what to do anymore. We can't keep stealing the gems like this. We'll be hunted down by more than just Yore if we're caught. Lori won't even tell us what the fall back plan is if Tallah can't help Naruto retrieve his memories."

Ryu was silent. He had no idea what to do next any more than his brother did. It made no sense why they were stealing all these useless scrolls as a cover while the real prize was the green gems that she hid in her room. It was like they were a precious treasure, and she was the dragon that was hoarding it. He realized his brother was staring at him waiting for an answer. As he watched him shift his head over the toilet once more he knew there was nothing he could really say. Worst case scenario they were all looking at a death penalty or life in the blood prison. He couldn't tell him everything would be alright when it obviously wasn't. So he just patted his brother on the back and said, "Do what you have to."

* * *

><p>Airi had already dropped Lori off in her room. She had left Ryu to be alone with his brother for more than one reason. She did need someone to watch him so he didn't hurt himself, but she also knew he needed someone to talk to. He wouldn't talk to her about anything, and she couldn't blame him. She knew he resented her for knowing Lori's plans when he was shut out. What he didn't realize was Lori had tried to keep her out as well, but that was hard when they were connected by the same fate. Airi knew as much about the gems as she did, so it had proven a secret impossible to keep. She rubbed her shoulder where the dragon tattoo on her left blade was only slightly visible under her clothing. It was the mark that she was chosen to bear like Lori and Tallah. It was the card fate had dealt her, but who was she to complain?<p>

She made her way to Al down the hall. When she reached him he held up the bag with an apologetic grin. "Delivery." He said. Airi smiled. She had always found it hard to be mad at Al. He was too sweet to stay mad at. "What took so long?" she asked him. Al dropped his grin and looked serious. "The whole village was on high alert from the stunt Tia pulled going back to the Archives. The memory suppression Lori put on that Konoichi from Konoha will only last a few weeks so the sooner we relocate the better." Airi shook her head. "All that chakra used as a price and it'll still only last a few weeks. We'll probably leave as soon as Riyu finishes getting rid of the poison in his body."

Al winced in sympathy. His expression softened as he handed over the bag of medicine to her. "So," he said. "When are you going to rest?"Airi stared. He cocked his head at her giving her a lopsided grin. "C'mon Airi, you aren't invincible. You need to rest too."Airi looked down. He was right she did need to sleep sometime. She didn't remember the last time she had slept at this point. So much had happened with this last raid. Most nights she had been awake making sure Riyu's fever from the poison didn't get worse. He had kept a cool façade while he was awake and she was giving him shots, but as soon as he fell asleep he would thrash around groaning and sometimes almost screaming. So she had stayed awake. Then Lori had gone and done something stupid again, and she had to stay up giving her medicine to help stabilize her chakra. On top of all that the dreams had been getting worse for both of them. She didn't know if she could take watching Victoria bleed out her counterpart again. All of this was swimming around in her head, and she was surprised when she felt a light pressure on her shoulders. She looked up to find Al bent over with his face inches from hers and both his hands on her shoulders. He stared at her intently. "You don't need to shoulder everyone's problems," he told her gently. "Go rest."

Airi blinked in surprise and blushed. She moved his hands and looked away. "You should start working on the bombs for the Land of Iron." She said. She saw him nod from the corner of her eye and walk off. She walked to the medicine room and started piling it into the cabinet. Ryu walked out of the bathroom.

"So I think at this point he's just sleep barfing." He commented.

Airi scoffed. "He is your brother Ryu. Show a little worry or respect for once."

"Always." She heard him respond.

She sighed. "You should go sleep. You've had a long journey."

"Right back at you." He said pointedly.

"Ryu I have to stay awake. Your brother…"

He held up his hand to stop her. "My brother is a big boy. He can stand up if he needs something. He may be fragile at the moment, but he isn't as breakable as you think."

Airi raised an eyebrow. "You realize that you kind of contradicted yourself in that phrase?"

Ryu just smiled. "He'll stay intact."

Airi knew she would have to give in. Every fiber in her body was screaming for sleep. She would sleep, but she wasn't sure how peaceful of a sleep she would have. Secrets were like bad memories. They screamed at you constantly. Even if you were no longer conscious they still moaned and wailed clawing at your very being. Ryu was right. Riyu would stay intact, but would everything else?

* * *

><p>There was a fire. It was all burning, blazing red across every corner of the world. Lori looked around herself in horror. There was nothing left. She could see the horrified faces of those around her running and screaming and praying for something to save them. She ran trying to escape them, but it was not to be. It didn't matter how many miles she ran. The world was always burning, and she was always running. She curled into a ball when even that was no longer possible. She put her hands over her ears chanting to herself over and over again. "This isn't happening. This isn't real. It's just a dream. It's just like all the others. It's just a dream!"<p>

"Maybe so," An all too familiar voice said from behind her. "But you know it won't work." Lori's blood turned cold as she faced the voice she knew all too well. Behind her was a twelve-year old girl with red hair and brown eyes. She was still wearing the ratty brown pants and grey t-shirt from Orochimaru's camp. "The price is too large." Yore said. "Your soul can't even pay half of it. You'll just be giving Victoria what she wants." Lori yelled at the apparition. "You're wrong! I'll have no choice if he can't get them back! I'll be the only one who can fix this." The girl scoffed at her with those lifeless brown eyes. "Oh please. Spare me the act. Have you learned nothing from your brothers? The path of self-sacrifice never ends well. Tallahknows what needs to be done, and so does Airi. Why are you the only one still running from the truth? Do you want to be punished so badly?"

Lori struggled to free her hand from the girl's grip. "I don't want to live through that again! I don't want to do what started everything in the first place!" she practically screamed. Yore threw her hands down in anger. She gripped Lori's hair in her hand making her yell in pain. She looked her straight in the eyes. "Then you will kill the very thing you were charged with at birth to protect!" she said lifting a sword. Suddenly Yore was no longer standing in front of her. Instead, Sasuke held it in his hands a murderous glare on his face. "And you along with everyone else will die!" he yelled finishing Yore's thought and plunging the sword through her heart.

Lori bolted from her pillow gasping for air. Her hand reached out grasping nothing. She stayed there like that for a moment her body covered in sweat. She could feel Tallahpulling at her walls struggling to find out what plagued her other half. She called her, and Lori relented letting the girl pull her into their mindscape.

She looked up seeing the cage baring her from the girl she was forced to share her body and chakra with. Was girl even the word? She had always thought so, but lately she had seemed more of an alien than ever to her. But she had caused that rift as well hadn't she? Being a Jinchuriki had never been more of a burden to her than now. She looked at the girl in the cage studying her appearance more than ever before. Her tanned skin, flaming red eyes, and mid-back length brownish-red hair that had a wild yet beautiful look were all haunting to her now. She stared at her brown jagged dragon wings that jutted from her back and the sharp teeth that showed when she opened her mouth to speak. "**Just hold on**." She pleaded uncharacteristically. It was almost like the girl's appearance and voice could not belong to the same person, and yet they did. Her gaze grew frustrated. Her hands gripped the cage bars harder. "**We're nearly there. Just hold on.**" She repeated.

Lori looked down refusing to make eye contact. Hold on to what? She was tired of all the games and guilt. She didn't want to hold on anymore. She hadn't asked for this. She hadn't asked for anything. She was tired of working for a cause that never ended. She was tired of watching her other selves be tutored because of her mistake. It was exhausting and painful and lonely. She just wanted to run and keep running and never look back.

She whipped her head up again when she felt a light brush by her arm. She hadn't realized how close to the cage she was. The Bijuu stared at her Jinchuriki with more intensity than the girl cared to examine. "You can only keep running for so long Lorienn." She said drawing out her full name. Before she could reply Lori heard knocking at her door and was brought back to the real world. She recognized the chakra signature and sighed. She got up from her bed, and opened the door to find Riyu standing there with a determined look on his face. The expression switched to one of concern though as soon as he took in her appearance.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine." She said lying through her teeth.

Riyu frowned at her. "Look I know you're tired and all, but we need to talk about these gems we've been stealing."

"We already talked. Besides, we're not stealing them. We're just borrowing them for a short time." She replied trying to brush him off by closing the door.

Riyu's hand slammed against it keeping it open. "You're in denial." He said dryly. "And no we didn't talk. You got up and left remember?"

She glared up at the boy who she considered her best friend. "I'm not in denial. It's not like it wasn't the guardian's in the first place anyway." she said.

Riyu rolled his eyes. "Right. Let's go with that story when we get arrested."

Lori huffed in annoyance. "C'mon Riyu. You already know the gem opens the portal to the gate, and that Naruto and I are the only ones who can use. What more do you want from me?"

Riyu gave her a pointed glare. "Gee I don't know. Maybe a reason why you've pretty much shoved everyone away, and why you won't tell me what the second option is for opening the portal if Tallah can't help Naruto remember you."

Lori glared right back. "It doesn't concern you! That's why!"

Riyu clenched his fist in frustration. "If it doesn't concern me then why am I helping you? Why are Tia, Al, Ryu and the rest of us helping you collect these shards?"

Lori looked to her left trying not to make eye contact. "I'm not telling you, and you can't make me." she said showing a bit of her childish side.

Riyu scoffed. "You can't tell me," he said his voice hard. "Or you don't want to tell me because you think I'll try to stop you?"

Lori's looked up startled. Riyu met her gaze evenly. "This isn't a game Lori." He told her. "I don't know what it is you think you need to hide from everyone, but we sustained injuries here that could've been fatal. We're facing a death sentence or a life in prison if we're caught. Please at least tell me you understand that." Lori nodded staring at the floor again. Riyu sighed tiredly. "After we finish in Iron you're on your own." He said quietly making her look up in surprise again. "I'm not putting us in any more unnecessary danger, and Ryu's not either. So are you going to come clean, or is this it?" Lori looked him in the eyes. She wanted to run. She wanted to hide. She wanted… "I'll leave for the Leaf after we're done then." She said quietly. Riyu's face crumbled in disappointment. "What, no story about how you came to this grand conclusion?" he questioned. Lori shook her head. "Not this time."

He left her there without another word and was down the hall before Lori could even blink. She stared after him for a moment wondering what to do. When she couldn't figure it out she just slid down the wall and buried her face in her hands. When had she gotten so stupid and weak? She felt Tia's chakra signature coming toward her a few minutes later. At least, she assumed it had been minutes. "What do you want Tia?" she said when the girl was in front of her. When the girl didn't answer right away she looked up at her. Her expression was unreadable. "What's wrong with you?" she questioned the ex-assassin. "The gem." She said. "The blonde brat took the gem from me." Lori froze for a moment, and then face palmed again. "It's official. The entire universe is conspiring against me." She said sarcastically hearing Tallah make a satisfied hmm sound in her head.

* * *

><p>Sasuke stared at the wall in Madara's hideout. He was growing impatient. Madara had said he had news for him. That had been days ago. Karin was oogling at him from across the table. Annoying woman. Suigetsu was polishing his sword in a corner while Juugo was… staring out from a corner at nothing. Sasuke sighed. He didn't even pretend to know what Juugo thought half the time. Nor did he care. All he knew was that if Madara made him wait any longer he was going to leave. "Patience Sasuke." The cloaked figure said from the shadows suddenly materializing behind the raven-haired boy's chair. Sasuke eyed the man angrily. "Give your news before I decide to test your materialization abilities on my sword." He said. Madara chuckled at him. "Patience is not your virtue I see. My news is that your chance for revenge has come. There has been a Kage Summit called in the Land of Iron. Danzo will be there." Sasuke's grip on his chair tightened. His eyes lit up in excitement. The moment he had been waiting for was so close so soon. He could almost taste the man's blood on his sword. "When do we leave?"<p>

* * *

><p>Madara enjoyed the look of glee that crossed Sasuke's face as he told him Danzo would be at the Kage Summit. He couldn't wait to see the perplexed faces of the Kages when he slipped right under their noses. The discord and chaos it would cause excited him. "When do we leave?" asked Sasuke. Madara registered the pure glee on the boy's face at the prospect of revenge being so close at his hand. It was beautiful. He suddenly felt a chakra signature in the hallway. It was like a flicker. One moment it was there, and then suddenly it wasn't. "We will leave tomorrow." He told the boy. "Now," he said narrowing his eyes. "If you'll excuse me, I have separate matters to attend to with a friend of mine."<p>

He left the group who was clearly not listening apart from Juugo. He stared after the man. Madara had to be careful around him. He was smarter than he looked. Madara came a considerable distance down the hall before stopping. "I must commend you once again for your expertise in stealth girl." He said to the air. A hooded figure emerged from the shadows her face obscured by the shadows. "It is not so much of a feat." She said simply. Madara turned facing her. "I beg to differ my dear." He stated. "It is a most peculiar feat from one who comes from an entirely different world where a chakra network has no existence my dear Yore. Or should I call you your true name, Victoria?" The red haired girl threw back her hood revealing her face. "That name died the moment I sat foot in this land." Madara laughed at her fierce expression.

"Fair enough my dear. What have you come all this way to tell me?"

Her expression seemed to light on fire. "Lord Danzo has also been made aware of my suspicions, but refuses to head. I hope you will not be as foolish as him."

"You might want to be careful who you call a fool." He reminded her. If she feared his words at all she did not show it.

"I don't suppose you've heard about the thefts in Sunagakure?"

Madara nodded. "I have heard of them as well as the thefts in Kirigakure, Iwagakure, and various other places. Why does this concern me?"

Victoria's expression was fierce. "The Shadow Dragon is among them."

Madara's interest peaked. So Lori and Tallah were finally revealing themselves. The female Uchiha had specialized in the art of disappearing underneath the Akatsuki's noses over the years. Sasori had called her the elusive shadow. Deidara had attached "dragon" to it as a symbol of her Bijuu. "I told you if I found her valuable I would see no grounds to get rid of her. Aside from her status you and Danzo so conveniently forgot to mention, she served as a wonderful tool of control over Itachi." Victoria glared. "I don't know much about the guardians here, but I do know this. She and the Key Keeper will get in the way no matter what the cost."

Madara chuckled. "I have no wish to entangle with the forces the guardians serve. Even if she does interfere she will only help my cause. At the very least I'll have one more thing to hold over Sasuke's head." He watched as the girl stared at him in shock. She was as foolish as she made Danzo out to be. Though they were similar, her goals did not coincide with his as much as she thought they did. He would follow with his plan and she could do whatever she liked as long as it didn't interfere with his overthrow of the ninja world. "You should remember." He told her. "My goals are not centered on you. You may do what you like under me to help further your own plans, but rest assured it doesn't matter to me whether they succeed or whether you die where you stand." Victoria narrowed her eyes at him. "Then I hope our goals do not coincide negatively for you are someone I wouldn't wish upon even my worst enemy. This is the last time I will come here." Madara smiled wryly behind his mask. "Safe travels friend." He said as he watched the otherworldly girl fade into the blackness, and gleefully planned his entrance to the Summit.

* * *

><p>1. <strong>One of my friend's expressed confusion on this point so I'm explaining it. Riyu and Ryu are twins. Ryu is the older of the two and technically the leader, but since they are twins they kind of share the role and bounce off each other's strengths and weaknesses.<strong>

**On another note, there isn't a hidden village in the Land of Iron so I kept the English translation as is. **


	10. Missing in Mind

Naruto woke up in the medical tent. Every bone in his body was screaming at him. He was sure he looked like a mummy. He supposed it had been stupid to let those Kumo-nin Karui and Omoi hit him like that, but he still felt like he had done the right thing. Shizune-san said that most of the swelling should go down in a couple of days. Speaking of which, he watched as Shizune entered the tent and looked startled to see him up. He grinned at her which he was sure looked horrible. "I feel like I got hit by Tsunade-Obachan a hundred times." He said. Shizune scowled at him. "You might as well have been with how much you let those two beat you up. Really, what were you thinking?" she scolded him. "I was thinking it would have made me feel better to know someone else realized the full extent of my anger and grief if I was them." He answered easily. Shizune glared. "Sasuke is a criminal now. No matter what you do someone is going to want him imprisoned or dead." Naruto frowned and gripped the covers. "At least if he's imprisoned he won't be so lost!" He said frustrated. He felt powerless since he couldn't do much for his friend.

There was one thing he could still do though. "I'm going after the Raikage." Shizune opened her mouth in shock. "What?! Naruto, you just got beat up by his subordinates!" Naruto fisted his hands in the sheets. "I have to convince him to spare Sasuke!" She gestured to him helplessly even though she knew he was already well enough with his healing rate. "But your wounds…" Naruto met her gaze. "Shizune it doesn't matter what you say. I'm going with or without permission from you. I just thought you should know." After a moment, Shizune sighed in defeat. "… At least let me have Kakashi and Yamato accompany you." Naruto nodded. "Thanks." He was surprised when Shizune tenderly placed her hand on his bandaged head. He looked into her eyes, and read the silent plea in them. "You can wait until morning to leave. You can walk so why don't you go roam around for a while?" Shizune suggested. Naruto nodded. "Yeah." He said. "Maybe that's what I need." He said. He had another important task on his mind anyway.

Naruto left the hospital room and walked towards the ninja academy. Only one other piece to Alien's maze remained unsolved: The girl in his images. After the fuss over the gem had died down Naruto had wracked his brain day and night trying to figure out who the girl was. He didn't know what her face looked like so the town records would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Naruto had finally realized that Iruka-sensei was in one of the images. At this point, he was certain if anyone could tell him about the girl it was Iruka-sensei.

Classes were over for the day so his classroom was empty. Naruto struggled to remember. He could make out the memory of one of the images just barely. His eyes opened and trailed across the seats. That was it. She had sat in the third section over in the front row. The second seat had belonged to her. She had seemed like she was paying close attention to the lesson in the image. She must've been a good student. Just as he was about to leave to search for him, Iruka sensei came through the door with a broom. He looked surprised. "Naruto? What are you doing here? I thought you were in the hospital." Naruto rushed up to him surprising Iruka even more.

"Iruka sensei!" he said. "I need your help!"

Iruka smiled. "Of course, Naruto. What do you need?"

Naruto sighed in relief. He pointed to the desk. "When I was little, and you first became my teacher there was a girl in class right?"

Iruka sweat dropped and scratched the back of his head. "You'll have to be more specific Naruto. There were quite a few girls in class."

"Right. Sorry. This seat over here," he gestured to the seat from his images. "Was there ever a girl with black hair and a dragon tattoo sitting there?"

Iruka frowned uneasily. "Yes there was." He said.

Naruto smiled triumphantly. "Do you remember her name?" he asked urgently.

Iruka's frown deepened confusing Naruto. "Of course I remember her." He said as if forgetting her wouldn't be possible.

"Who was she?" Naruto was beginning to get irritated at his former teacher's lack of response.

"Naruto what kind of game are you playing? Of course I remember Lori. Why are you asking about her so strangely for anyway? You haven't mentioned her in years." He said apprehensively.

Naruto backed up. He was surprised at Iruka's hostility. "Iruka sensei, I'm not playing a game. I keep seeing images her in my head, and it's really important that I know who and where she is. Please Iruka-sensei do you know what happened to her?"

Iruka looked at him sadly. "You really don't remember do you?" he said.

Naruto shook his head. Iruka sighed. "Naruto, Lori was Sasuke's twin sister. She died in the Uchiha massacre eight years ago." All Naruto could do was stand there stunned. Iruka's expression held nothing but pity. "Are you going to be alright Naruto?" Naruto nodded mutely and walked out of the school. Once he was safely outside he cursed and punched a wall. Why did it seem like every time he was close to solving something it just danced away from him again? "Poor little Kyuubi. He's so confused." He heard a voice say out of nowhere. Naruto whipped around to find a red haired, brown-eyed girl sitting on the swing he used to sit on all the time. She looked like she was about his age, but she was wearing Anbu gear. "Who are you? I thought Anbu were supposed to wear their mask at all times." He demanded. She smiled and kicked her legs making the swing move. "I'm Yore, and you're not a threat." She said. "I work for Danzo." Naruto immediately pulled out his Kunai. "There's no need for that." She waved him off. "Not right now at least. I don't give a rat's ass what Danzo wants with you." Naruto felt terribly uneasy. "What do you want?" he asked supisciously.

The girl, Yore, seemed to look right into his soul. "Let me guess." She said. "You're running out of time." Naruto was taken aback. "Have you been spying on me?" The girl ignored his question. "What else did Tallah tell you hmm? That your memories are missing? That the world as you know it literally hangs in the balance? Did she tell you how it's all her vessel's fault, and how she gave up her freedom to keep your mind safe?" Naruto gritted his teeth watching the girl as she circled him like a predator. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about." Yore blinked at him and laughed cruelly. "Good Lord you really don't do you? At least I know I did my job. But seriously, she couldn't even tell you her name. I swear this is totally worth the world burning."

Naruto had had just about enough of the girls antics. He threw his Kunai and was surprised when it just barely grazed the girl's cheek. Yore blinked and ran her finger across the scratch. She scowled and suddenly the amount of kill chakra she was emitting skyrocketed. "I'm so tired of seeing blood." She said. Suddenly she was in front of him grabbing his face in her hand. "You're lucky I'm so convinced the Dragon will fail, otherwise I'd kill you right here. Tell Tallah I can't wait to see her vessel's blood on my blade." Before Naruto could blink the girl was gone, leaving him frightened and with another mystery on his hands.

* * *

><p>Sakura woke up in a daze. It took her a minute to register where she was. She finally realized she was in one of the Konoha medical tents. She looked around in surprise. She didn't remember arriving in Konoha. The last thing she remembered was worrying about Naruto sleeping at the hotel in Suna. As she looked around she was even more surprised to find Ino sitting beside her.<p>

"Ino," she said. "What are you doing here?"

The platinum blonde girl scowled. "What do you mean what am I doing here forehead? I'm entitled to see my injured best friend."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "So where am I anyway?" she asked.

"Since the hospital was destroyed during Pain's attack, Shizune set up another medical tent for you. It's right next to Tsunade's."

Sakura nodded. That made since, but she was a little uneasy. Why was she in the medical tent in the first place? She didn't recall being injured. She examined herself a little bit. Wow she was definitely sore. She saw several bruises around her arms. They looked like…chains? Had she been chained up? What had happened to her? She was about to ask Ino when she noticed how puffy and red her friend's eyes were. She frowned in confusion. "Ino, have you been crying?" Ino hurried to wipe her face. "I…well…yes." She stammered concerning Sakura. "Why?" Ino dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "I'll tell you in a little bit ok? First things first though. What happened to you? Shizune informed me, Shikamaru, and Dad about the situation in Suna so you can tell me anything." Sakura sighed. There went her question. "I was hoping you could tell me." Ino blinked in surprise. "You don't remember?" Sakura was confused. "No. Should I?" Ino looked incredulous. "Well considering you have a cracked sternum, three broken ribs, bruises all over you and chain marks surrounding your body, yes I thought you would at least remember something." Ino said sarcastically with a slight edge of worry. Sakura was beginning to worry herself. "No, Nothing."

Ino frowned. "That's not good. Look I'll be back later ok? I have some stuff to do, and then I'll bring my father back here." Sakura tried to grab her skirt. "Wait, you didn't tell me why you were crying!" She shot Sakura a sad smile as she left."Later ok?" Sakura laid back down in confusion. Why wouldn't her friend tell her what was wrong? More importantly why was her head pounding so hard? She felt like she had been electrocuted. She blinked. Where had that come from? She didn't know how it felt to be electrocuted. Although last time she had seen Sasuke it looked like he had been more than willing to grant her the experience. She frowned, and then jumped when she heard a voice from the other side of the room. "You are awake." Sakura groaned. She knew that voice. "Sai what are you doing here?" She turned her head to face the pasty white male. His face was expressionless as always.

"I was told to watch you until Inoichi got here with Shizune. She thinks your body has been healed enough now for them to examine you."

Sakura blinked. "I didn't think to ask how long I had been out."

"You've been unconscious for three weeks." He said without skipping a beat.

Sakura bolted upright in the bed in shock. "Three weeks!?" She winced at the pain caused by her sudden movement.

Sai nodded. "Yes, and a lot has happened in these weeks that you have missed."

"Tell me." Sakura demanded.

"Lord Danzo has officially been appointed the new Hokage. You and Naruto were immediately requested to be returned which is why you are here instead of in the Sand. Also…" He paused seeming to consider whether or not to continue.

"What is it Sai?" Sakura asked wondering what he was reluctant to tell her. "She told me to wait, but you should know. Danzo and Kumogakure have formed an alliance simply for the cause of hunting down and killing Sasuke."

Sakura froze. She felt numb. She felt sick. She didn't want to think about that. She didn't want to think about anyone else getting hurt. She wondered how Naruto had reacted. She suddenly realized she hadn't seen him yet. "Does Naruto know?" she asked Sai.

"Yes. In fact, he and two of the Kumo-nin engaged in an argument. They wanted the information you two had on him to help them know how to engage and eliminate Sasuke. Naruto refused after realizing he could not bring himself to sell out Sasuke, and offered to shoulder their anger instead. They gladly accepted, and he was in a hospital for about a week. Danzo and the other Kage's have decided to have a Kage summit to discuss war preparations. Naruto doesn't want Sasuke to die so he decided to leave the village with Kakashi and Yamato to beg the Raikage to spare his life. He is using the summit as an excuse to get near him."

Sakura could feel her eyes widen as everything sank in. "What is he thinking?! I have to go after him! I have to try and stop him!" She had every intention of bolting out after the blonde idiot at that moment when a hand shot out of nowhere and held her down. She looked up in surprise. Shizune's black eyes looked back into hers. They were intense. Sakura realized even if she tried to run she probably wouldn't make it past the woman. "You can do that later Sakura." She said. "We have matters to attend to beforehand though." She motioned to a figure behind her Sakura quickly identified as Ino's father. "Hello Inoichi." She said. "Hello Sakura." Inoichi said kindly. Ino has told us that you don't remember what happened to cause any of the injuries you received." "No I don't, but I don't see how that's important when Naruto is risking his life to go save Sasuke!" She practically growled. Shizune scowled at Sai who took that as a sign to leave.

Shizune sighed in exasperation. "Sakura, I want you to let Inoichi scan you mind." Sakura's eyes widened at the request. "Why?" Shizune looked troubled. "Gaara informed me after you and Naruto left that the thieves have also robbed several of the facilities in Iwagakure, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure as well." Sakura nodded Gaara had told them as much when they had arrived. Inoichi cleared his throat. "Shizune informed me one of the thieves has shown a talent for Genjutsu on several occasions. We need to make sure whoever attacked you didn't take anything vital pertaining to our village defences." Sakura reluctantly complied understanding the reasoning. "Alright." Inoichi nodded.

As he sifted through her mind he frowned in worry. When he was finally done he turned to Shizune in frustration. "This was definitely intentional memory suppression. I've never seen anything like it before though." Sakura looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" Inoichi shook his head. "Whoever suppressed your memories didn't want you to recover them anytime soon. I've never seen a wall so thick. Your opponent had a serious amount of chakra at their disposal for something this strong." Sakura's mind flashed to a black and white image of chains around her arms. She blinked trying to make sense of it, and was frustrated when it was suddenly gone again. "Why was my memory suppressed?"

Shizune piped up. "When Naruto found you one of the thieves that escaped from prison, Airi, had you on her back. Naruto said she just handed you over to him and left." Sakura frowned. "Why would they go to such trouble?" Shizune shook her head. "I don't know." As Sakura panicked about what the thief might have taken Shizune pulled her from her reverie. "There is something else you should know." Sakura looked up curiously. "What is it?" Shizune sighed. "The day Naruto left Sunagakure, the archives was attacked again in broad daylight." Sakura's eyebrows shot up. Shizune continued. "He engaged the girl, Tia, and discovered something interesting. The girl had a green gem in the pack. Naruto said he felt strange waves coming off of it, and that he believed the gems are what the thieves have actually been after. The rest of the things stolen were all a cover up as we originally suspected."

Sakura's eyes widened. The thieves were actually after a green gem? What was so special about such a tiny thing? She would've assumed they were just after money, but something told her there was more to the gems than that. "Did Gaara know anything about it?" she asked. Shizune shook her head. "He said the information is still barred to him." Sakura sighed in frustration. All of this was happening while she had been knocked out cold. She had to do something. Shizune patted her on the head. "I have other things to attend to, but I'll be back later so get some rest." Sakura watched her go. The idea of resting any longer disgusted her.

"Sai!" she called out once Shizune was gone. "Are you there?"

Sai poked his head through the tent flap. "Are you alright Sakura?"

"I'm fine. Help me gather up the others. I don't care what Shizune or Inoichi or Danzo say. I have a plan."

* * *

><p>Airi watched as Ryu explained to the others how they were going to retrieve the gem from the Land of Iron. Most of the guards would be stationed around the Kage Summit, and not where the gem was kept. It would be easy as long as they didn't get caught. She scanned everyone around the room. Lori was in her regular clothes for the first time in a while. She had on her brown cargo pants, her black half-sleeve T-shirt, and her blue cut-off vest with her black ninja shoes. Her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that ended at her shoulders, and her Sai were strapped to her back. Everyone else had on their usual combat wear as well. It was funny seeing Al, Riyu, and Ryu all wear pretty much the same thing. She supposed this was natural though considering they were all from the same clan. She still got chills every time she saw Riyu's dagger tail wrapped around his chest though. (1) Ryu had his weapon scrolls ready as well. As she looked on, Airi couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. The networks were deteriorating faster now. The dreams of death and destruction were becoming more frequent and vivid for her and Lori. One way or another something was going to happen on this raid.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>(1) See chapter three for description of outfit and weapon<strong>


	11. Truth

Naruto lay on the top floor of the two story house he, Yamato, and Kakashi were staying in. He was trying to go back to sleep, but he didn't know how that was going to be possible after everything that had happened. He had caught up with the Raikage and begged him to spare Sasuke, but he had called him a sentimental fool and refused him. Naruto was sure Karui would've beaten him up again if the Raikage had given her permission. When they got back to the place they were staying, Sakura was there with Kiba and Sai. He had been surprised when he saw her, but he had been even more surprised when she hugged him and told him she was in love with him. That made no sense. He knew she was still in love with Sasuke, and he told her so. After she angrily left, Sai had made him understand that she had done it because she had blamed herself for him getting hurt trying to rescue Sasuke. Naruto felt bad for her. He would've gone after their best friend whether he had made her the promise or not. He just hoped she wouldn't do anything to dangerous. (1)

On top of all this, he was paranoid since Madara had come busting through the window earlier. He dropped a bomb on everyone when he revealed the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre. It was a shock to them all that their village would actually force Itachi to kill his clan just so they could prevent another war. He still had a hard time believing it even now. It made him incredibly sad to think about what Itachi and Sasuke had both been through. Naruto could almost understand why Sasuke was still after revenge. Poor Itachi. Poor Sasuke. Poor Lori. Naruto frowned at the last one. He still couldn't believe he had finally found the identity of the girl in his visions only to learn she was dead.

Then, that creepy girl Yore told him she wanted Alien or Tallah he guessed dead. He had looked for a file on Lori, but hers was the only one he couldn't find. It was like someone had erased her from existence or something. He wished he could remember more about her. Before he knew it he was actually falling asleep, and he gladly welcomed it.

All of the sudden Naruto opened his eyes again when a familiar chakra signature seemed to jerk him away from himself. He looked around in surprise. He was in the dream sequence again. Naruto smiled as he surveyed the broken wall in front of him.

"So you're finally back?" he questioned Alien. Her voice came out of nowhere as usual.

"**Of course,**" she said. "**You didn't really think you were done yet did you?**"

Naruto looked at the path laid out before him. "Before I make it to the end of the maze I have one more question."

The air around him stilled as if she was waiting. "Why is Lori so important?" he asked.

She had a hint of humor in her voice. "**You'll know soon enough. Don't defeat the purpose of the alchemy circles. If you want the truth you'll have to find it yourself.**"

Naruto looked up slightly annoyed as he remembered their last encounter. "Speaking of telling the truth, you mind telling me what happened last time you were here?"

"**Don't get ticky with me just because you're frustrated.**" She said.

Naruto rolled his eyes. She chuckled at him. Naruto looked at the walls. "So _Tallah_, mind telling me what _your_ part in all this is?"

The air stilled for a moment. "Yore's getting antsy."

Naruto cocked his head. "She said a lot of things about you. She wants to kill your vessel, whatever that means."

She dismissed his statement. "**If you still want the truth then follow the alchemy circles to the end of the maze. You'll have to go through the door at the end of the path to find what you seek. This is as far as I can guide you. When you enter the door you will see Truth. I wish you luck, and that he'll be kind. Although,**" she laughed mockingly. "**I suppose that's a little much to ask of him. Now go.**"

Naruto looked down the long pathway. He didn't need any more coaxing. He ran down the path as fast as his legs could carry him. He saw the door before he ever approached it in the distance. As he got closer he slowed down as a sudden wave of nausea hit him. He looked at the door analyzing every detail. It was a massive thing that seemed to be suspended in the air. It was etched with many symbols that were familiar to him. He saw trees, the Rinnegan, the sealing symbol used on Jinchurikis, a sky, and a sun whose rays cascaded in grey down the door connecting everything. In the center of the door was a circle with the word Yaweh in the center. (2) Naruto felt heavy as he walked closer to the door. The energy the door was emitting felt wrong and sinister.

Naruto was surprised when the door slowly opened in front of him. He felt sick. All he could see was a deep darkness in every direction. Suddenly a wicked looking red eye opened in the blackness, and several black, eerie looking arms were coming out of the door straight for him. He tried to run, but they grabbed a hold of him and dragged him toward the door. He kicked and screamed not wanting to go wherever they were taking him. Then the arms started taking his body apart. He screamed louder than he ever had before watching as his body disintegrated in their grasp. Tallah's voice suddenly came to him. "**Naruto, relax.**" She said. "**You will be fine.**" So he let them drag him through the door in absolute terror as they dragged him into the darkness, and the door shut behind him with a wicked thud.

* * *

><p>Lori and the others ran through the forest. She was in her panic state. She could feel the threads cracking and unraveling faster and faster. Tallah needed to hurry. She rolled her eyes remembering the dragon Bijuu's puffy attitude when she left. So she had stolen a bit of her chakra for the memory suppression and cut her off from Naruto early. Might as well be payback for Tallah stealing her chakra to break into his mind in the first place. She'd almost gotten Riyu killed.<p>

Meanwhile, they were traveling to the Land of Iron. The Summit would convene tomorrow and they needed the lack of guards in order to pull this off. While she was planning how to get past what security would remain around the gem she suddenly felt the threads tremble and shake around her. They kept shaking and trembling as if something was tearing a hole through the world. She stopped and looked behind her knowing it meant the gate was opening somewhere. She looked up when Airi suddenly landed beside her on the branch she had stopped on. She looked at Lori with a smile. "Won't be long now. Maybe Truth'll finally stop making us watch our counterparts get bled dry." she said nonchalantly. Lori nodded remembering her most recent dream she had last night of one of her counterparts being whipped.

Riyu, Ryu, and Tia were far ahead of them, but Al stopped a short distance away and turned back to them. "What's the matter you guys? We have to keep moving or we won't make it in time." Lori and Airi shared a look and continued forward. They had been having nightmares like that since Naruto had lost his memories. Just one more way the gate was telling them they were running out of time. Lori sighed. The gate opening meant Naruto was going to see Truth, and find a way to retrieve the memories. The nightmare was almost over, so why wasn't she happy?

* * *

><p>Naruto didn't know how long he had been in the darkness, but the next thing he knew he was abruptly rematerialized and thrown out of the door onto the ground. He hopped up on his feet pointing at the door angrily. "What was that all about?!" he yelled hoping Tallah could hear him. "I thought you were supposed to help me find out what I needed to know, not let a freaking door rip my body apart!" In response the door abruptly shut in his face. After he had collected himself, Naruto looked around trying to figure out where he was. The area looked similar to his dream state except it was white. The space seemed to stretch on forever and never end. As he tried to find some clue to indicate what came next, he realized that there were five other doors besides the one he had been thrown out of.<p>

The doors were all similar, but unique in their own way. They were all lined around him like a circular stage, though they were spaced fairly far apart. He faced two of them from the door he had come out of. Another door was positioned to the left of his door, and the other two doors were positioned on each end facing towards the inside of the circle. Those two doors were vastly larger than the other four and gave Naruto an unsettling feeling. "_Are you done sightseeing shinobi_?" said a mocking voice out of nowhere. Naruto turned around abruptly and was faced with the strangest looking being he had ever seen.

It had the shape of a human, but it was completely white with a black hue tingeing it's outline. He had no face except for a creepy grin that made Naruto uneasy. (3) "Who are you?" he asked the creature warily. The creature's grin widened and lifted up his arms in what Naruto assumed was a gesture of glee. "_Oh I'm so glad you asked!_" he exclaimed. Naruto was just assuming it was a he. "_I am called many names._" The creature said. "_I am the world. I am the universe. I am god. I am everything. I am one. I am you. _(4)_ People tend to call me Truth._" Naruto remembered what Tallah had said. _"__**When you enter the door you will see Truth. I wish you luck, and that he'll be kind. Although, I suppose that's a little much to ask of him.**__" _

Naruto looked the being in front of him curiously. So that's what she had meant by her statement. "My name's Naruto." He said to the creature. "I was sent here by a girl named Tallah. I lost some of my memories that are important, and she said you would be able to help." The creature kept on grinning at him. "_I already know who you are, and why you're here shinobi. And trust me I am very aware of Tallah's hand in it. Though, the fact that you insist on calling her a girl like she's some human is amusing._"Truth said. Naruto blinked and yelped when the being appeared behind him. "_This is exciting I must say._" Truth said getting all up in his face. "_I haven't had the pleasure of dealing in equivalent exchange with your kind in a while. Not since the Sage of Six Paths paid the price to grant you all the ability to seal away the tailed beasts._" Naruto balked. This thing was connected to the Jinchuriki? "What do you mean the Sage of Six Paths paid the price?" Naruto demanded Truth. "_You don't even know what you're dealing with here do you Shinobi? I suppose it makes sense that the ol' foxy wouldn't have told you._" Naruto glared. "Why can't any of you people ever give me a straight answer?" he muttered.

Truth was suddenly in front of him almost knocking him over. "_What I'm talking about little Shinobi is the law of equivalent exchange._" Naruto blinked. The term sounded vaguely familiar. "Of what?" "_The Law of Equivalent Exchange._" The being said again grinning maniacally. "It's _the principle that the universe follows flawlessly. You cannot exchange one thing for another unless something of equal value is given in return. They use it relentlessly in the West Gate. In other words there's a price for everything._" Naruto looked at Truth warily. "If there's a price for everything, then what's my price for being here?" Truth laughed at him. "_Not to worry young Shinobi. Your friend Tallah already paid half the price for you. Her counterpart in the West Gate paid the other half. She had to considering all this trouble is partly her fault for letting Victoria through._" Naruto cocked his head confused. "Who's Victoria?"

Truth suddenly stopped laughing and looked at him seriously. It was creeping Naruto out. "_As much as I enjoy toying with you,_" he said. "_You came here seeking the truth, and that is what I will show you._" He ginned widely as the space around Naruto seemed to tense and shake. When Naruto looked up again he was surrounded by several colorful threads weaving in every direction like a gigantic spider web. Truth began speaking.

"_As you may have figured out by now, all the doors except for the two on the end are gates to a different universe. These threads you are seeing are the life threads that flow through each universe. Now don't mistake the meaning of that. Each world has a different principle network that they survive by. There are four different principles that correspond with the four different universes. This is why there are four different colored threads. The purple thread is Alchemy_(5)_ which corresponds to the West Gate, the gate across from yours. The blue thread is Chakra, which corresponds with your world, or as I call it, the East Gate. The green thread is, believe it or not, song. It corresponds with the Northeast Gate, the one to your right. Finally, the red thread is Nox Nyctores, which goes to the Northwest Gate, the one on my right._"

"What about the black and yellow threads?" questioned Naruto. Truth glared. "_I was getting to that. You see the two gates at the end of the other four doors?_" Naruto nodded. "_The one on the left is the Gate of Light, and the one on the right is the Gate of Darkness. The yellow thread comes from the Gate of Light, and the black thread, obviously, comes from the Gate of Darkness. The space that you and I are currently in is called the Bridge. It is where all the threads converge in the center of the Universe._" Naruto was confused. "Ok." He said. "I think I follow what you're saying, but what does all of this have to do with my missing memories? Why is it so important I recover them? And who is Victoria? You still haven't answered that." Truth motioned to the doors around them.

"_These threads aren't just for show. There must be a specific balance of light and darkness in each world, and the other colors can never intersect into a different gate. The universes are so close in proximity to each other that if even one thread were to cross over into a dimension other than its own the universe could collapse on itself. That, however, is worst case scenario. More likely the universe would just be consumed by whatever thread is off balance bringing it to ruin._" Naruto frowned. "That's still pretty bad." Truth was eerily silent. That's when it hit Naruto. "_That's what's happening, isn't it?_" Truth nodded. "_There are other precautions that were set up to prevent this. You will understand more when I explain it._" Naruto sweat dropped. "I'm barely following you as it is, but ok."

"_Each universe has four guardians set up to monitor the threads, and make sure they never cross or that someone does not rupture them somehow. There is the Bridge Builder who uncovers the path to the world you are aiming to reach, the Key Keeper who bars or opens the gate for use, the Keeper of the Gate of Darkness who monitors the black threads of their universe, and the Keeper of the Gate of Light who monitors the yellow threads of their universe. The problem, however, is the guardians are as unbalanced as the threads. There must always be four of them, and if one dies in one universe then her counterparts must also die and be replaced to keep the worlds in balance._" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "So basically if one dies they all die?" "_Such is the way of the universe. This also leads to the root of your world's current problem._"

Truth gestured his hand to Naruto's gate. "_Yore, the Keeper of the Gate of Light for your world, died three years ago in one of Orochimaru's underground slave camps. Coincidentally, it was one that Goto supplied children for so Orochimaru wouldn't take over his areas of business._" He pointed to the Northwest gate with the Nox Nyoctores running through it. "_Saya, her counterpart of this universe, thought her life had been too short and did not want to honor the laws of the universe. She forced the bridge builder, Tsubaki Yayoi, to open the gate and crossed into the west gate dragging the red threads from her dimension with her. She somehow convinced her counterpart in that universe, Victoria, to rebel as well. Saya crossed into the Northeast Gate as well, and stole a gem from one of the guardians there. In her world this gem grants her the power to mind control others. She's caused quite a stir that is being dealt with by the other guardians in that dimension presently. Your problem is Victoria also forced her world's bridge builder to transport her to your world dragging the purple and yellow threads with her. _"

Naruto let it all sink in for a moment. Now that he was paying more attention to the threads he could see all the yellow threads over powering the black and blue ones in his dimension. He could also see them fraying. Now he understood the other reason why Tallah had kept telling him to hurry. They probably only had weeks if even that long before they snapped. He frowned. "I still don't understand." He said. "What do my memories have to do with any of this?"

Truth glanced at him. "_The Sage of Sixth Paths ensured with his price that the Bijuu he had taken charge of could be contained, but he also made sure no one could open the gate or enter it except for two separate beings: The Keeper of the Gate of Darkness and The Kyuubi. The memories that were stolen from you hold the key he left to opening the gate in your world. Opening it would be simple if you were in the west gate since they use alchemy religiously, but your world has a whole different set of laws and the prices are much higher even for a simple transmutation. In that universe they have a red gem they call the philosopher's stone that can bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange. Your world has something similar to it called the Gem of Aatos. However, because of the Sage's payment, the only one who can use it without paying a price is you, the Kyuubi's container._"

Naruto balked at the information he was just given. "So basically what you're saying is that I'm the only one who can open the gate to stop my world from dying?" Truth crossed his arms. "_Yes, essentially that is what I'm saying._" Naruto put his face in his hands. "Wow, ok." He lifted his head and looked at truth. "So all I have to do is get back my memories, and then I can just find the Guardian of the Gate of Darkness, and everything will be ok right?" Truth smiled. "_The trick, Shinobi, is that it won't work unless you can find that idiotic story teller Lori. You can't open the gate without her. Plus you'll have to lure Victoria into the gate too, or it won't work._" "Wait a second! Lori's the Keeper of the Gate of Darkness?!" Naruto yelled. "I thought she was dead! Besides you just said she couldn't open the gate without me, and how the heck am I going to get Victoria into the gate?! I don't even know what she looks like!" Truth had his hands over his ears. "_Believe me, if Victoria is motivated she will be the one finding you. As for Lori, she's crushed under her own self-loathing. It might as well be a suicide mission in the state she's in now._"

Naruto cocked his head. "Why do you say that?" Truth scoffed. "_The Key Keeper for your world is a Bijuu. To be specific she's Lori's Bijuu. If she dies, the Key Keeper dies. The gap left by the two guardians would not only leave the gate exposed, but also unbalance the threads even more causing your universe to collapse on itself. If she keeps running away from her responsibility and tries to open the gate herself, Victoria will win._"

Naruto was dumbfounded. "Ok so let me get this straight. Basically what's happening is that Victoria came from the West Gate all mad because she doesn't want to die and brought more threads with her. Lori's trying to stop her by opening the gate and doing I don't know what, but she can't without causing major destruction because for some reason I'm to only one who can use the gem without paying the price, but I can't remember how to use it right now and if I don't get those memories back Lori's going to open the gate and accidently collapse this universe?" Truth cackled with glee. "_Now you're getting it!_"

Naruto's blood ran cold. Victoria had threatened him by the school. The one she wanted to kill was Lori, and if Lori died Tallah would die with her. He just stared at him for a moment then finally said. "Well obviously I need my memories back before I can do anything. Where are they?" Truth pointed at the west gate. "_Tallah paid the price to leave this door open to you so you could talk me, and to send your memories to the bridge builder, the one who placed the maze in your mind, in Victoria's world. However, you cannot recover the memories until what was exchanged for them is returned. When that happens you will be returned here and she will give them back to you._" Naruto blinked in outrage. "Well what the heck am I supposed to do until then?! I don't even know what the price was!" he yelled. Truth put a hand on his shoulder and gripped it tightly once again grinning like normal. "_What you will do, young Shinobi, is find the guardians who haven't gone completely insane and make sure your dear friend Lori doesn't __**screw everything up**__! Don't worry about the price. That's resolving I have no idea what the replacement Keeper of the Gate of Light is, so you're at a dead end there. Aside from Victoria the other three tend to stay in close proximity to one another so they should be simple to find. Look for the dragon tattoo on some part of their body. It's what marks them as guardians._"

Dragon tattoo? Naruto flashed back to the images of Lori that had plagued him. She had had a dragon tattoo on her arm. He also flashed back to Airi with Sakura slung over her back. The way Sakura had been positioned it had pulled down one of Airi's sleeves revealing a dragon tattoo on her shoulder. Naruto balked. "No way!" Naruto freaked. "You're telling me the source of all these stupid dreams has been those stupid thieves we've been chasing for over a month!? I'm gonna find that Airi and drag her on her face!" Truth grinned. "_Ah! So you've met the Bridge Builder for your world already. That should make your job ten times easier!_" "How in the heck does that going to make my job easier!?" yelled Naruto. Truth sighed. "_I've told you what you need to know. Now go find Airi! Lori won't be far behind._"

Naruto rolled his eyes and looked around. "Fine. Now how do I get out of this place?" Truth gave another evil grin. "_Same way you got here._" Naruto felt himself get paler. He faced the gate with a gulp. The door opened repeating the same process as before. It took all his strength not to scream aloud. "_See you next time Shinobi._" He heard Truth leer from behind him. "_Be sure to thank Tallah for paying your price for you._" He heard him comment before he was consumed by the blackness once more.

* * *

><p><strong>I refuse to write a play by play of all the fights and extra stuff that happens in the mangaanime. If you haven't gotten that far in the series yet you'll just have to look it up.**

**I was going for something similar in design to the gate in FMAB**

**In case some of you haven't read Full Metal Alchemist or seen FMAB, Truth is what they call the figure they meet in the gate.**

**This is word for word what Truth says in Brotherhood**

**The idea is that I'm using four different anime/video game verses. The West Gate is Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood with the exception of the different universes concept coming from Full Metal Alchemist. The East Gate is Naruto. The Northeast Gate is Elemental Gelade. The Northwest Gate is a video game called Blazeblue. **


	12. It's Complicated

Victoria left Danzo's side as soon as she felt the gate open. The gate was a more important problem than the council. The only person who should've been able to open the gate was Lori, but she didn't have enough of the pieces for the stone to be complete. That left Naruto. She bit her lip in frustration. How in the world had he managed to open the gate? She had made sure the price was enough to wipe away anything connected to the guardians.

She could feel Danzo attempting to contact her through the link all his subjects shared with him. "Yore," he said. "Return immediately. If you disobey my orders I will have you eliminated." Victoria rolled her eyes and broke her connection with him. She could hear him gasp as she severed it. He was a truly foolish man to ever believe he actually had any control over her. He had no more control over her actions than Saya had. She was ashamed to call the women her counterpart. They were both fools, and she wasn't about to let their stupidity ruin everything she had sacrificed. She gritted her teeth as she was assaulted with another image. She almost fell over with the sheer force of it. The image shook like a tremor in her head and ran blood through her vision. The girl whose throat she had slit open reached out to her pleading with her eyes. "I do not feel guilty!" Victoria yelled banishing the image. She had identified the location of the energy from the door. If the Kyuubi brat insisted on being a problem, she would just do what she should've done in the first place.

* * *

><p>The door released Naruto back into his own mindscape. He turned around and was surprised when it disappeared. "<strong>The door will come back when the price to remove your memories is returned.<strong>" That was surprising. Tallah's voice actually sounded really close to him. He turned around and almost jumped out of his skin.

There was a woman standing directly behind him. She had semi-dark skin and long unruly brown hair with a faint red tinge to it. She was wearing a tan dress that went to her knees. The sleeves and bottom of the dress looked like they had been ripped away, and there was a slit going up the right side of it. What freaked Naruto out were the jagged brown wings jutting from her back, and the glowing red eyes. He jumped back and pulled out his kunai. The woman just cocked an eyebrow at him as if he were no threat at all. "**You're excitable for just visiting Truth. Although, when I think about it that actually makes sense. He isn't the most pleasant person in the world.**" she said.

Naruto just stared at her, and she waited patiently for the wheels in his head to click. "… You're Tallah?" he said after a moment. She grinned showing him her pointed teeth. "**You're a bit slow aren't you?**" she teased him. Naruto frowned. Yep. That was Tallah. "Why can I see you?" Tallah played with a strand of her hair looking bored. "**Well one reason is that Lori's close to where you're located. The other less desirable reason,**" she said dropping the strand. "**Is** **the additional seal I put on Kura…, (1) I mean Kyuubi, is starting to crack. The additional chakra is strengthening your ability to sense me.**" Naruto scrunched his face in confusion. "Exactly why is that not good for you?" She raised an eyebrow. "**Let's just say I have a complicated relationship with the rest of the Biju.**"

Naruto examined Tallah with interest. He spotted the dragon mark winding around her right leg. "Lori's your Jichuriki." He said looking up at her face. "Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?" Tallah frowned. "**The condition for the price was that you had to figure out what you were really looking for on your own. No one knows your mind, heart, and soul better than yourself.**"

Naruto frowned. "Why did you and Airi's counterpart pay my price? Tallah studied her hand. "**The universe is a fragile thing.**" She said solemnly. "**If someone hadn't done something when Victoria took your memories, the gate would've been lost to us until the Kyuubi was delivered to a new host. The universe would've collapsed before we ever found them.**" Naruto eyed her warily. "What did you pay?" he asked his voice was filled with dread.

"**My freedom.**" She said looking him in the eyes. "**What else does a Biju have left to pay? As for my counterpart, her ancestors will all be bridge builders. They now have no choice in the matter.**" Naruto clenched his fists at his side. "Why?" he said. "Why would you both pay that kind of price for me?" He was surprised when she literally laughed in his face. "**You really are a naïve boy aren't you Naruto? This isn't some game where all options are open to you. In fact, if it weren't for the Sage of Six Paths this would have nothing to do with you. It's a tiny sacrifice in a multitude of big ones.**"

Naruto blinked and looked down gripping his hands at his sides. "You have no guarantee I'll even be able to help stop either of them." He said. "**And?**" came her curt reply. He stared her in shock. "**We don't need a guarantee.**" She said bluntly. "**We just need you to help my idiotic host open the gate so we can get rid of Victoria. Is that so hard?**" Naruto couldn't help it. He busted out laughing right there while she just scoffed and shook her head.

The moment was abruptly over though when a look of shock crossed Tallah's face. Her eyes widened and she grabbed him by the arm. "**You have to wake up now!**" Naruto balked. "What? Why?" asked Naruto. "**Victoria sensed the door's energy. She's coming for you!**" Naruto's eyes widened. Seriously? He watched as Tallah raised her hands in a strange gesture. In fact, She looked like she was about to attack him. Wait… "Whoa!" he said putting his hands up. "What are you doing?!" he yelled. "**It'll only hurt for a minute!**" she said concentrating. Naruto balked. "What?! No! Tallah, don't you dare!" he yelled. She ignored his protests and his eyes widened as he was lit on fire.

* * *

><p>Victoria cursed when Naruto rolled out of her scythe's path before she could embed it in his skull. She glared as he bolted upright and took a fighting stance. "You're supposed to hold still." She told him in frustration. The blonde looked at her like she was nuts. She gritted her teeth. He reminded her too much of Terren. Brave, strong Terren who still managed to spout nonsense even when she was coughing up blood. She had grown up with her. Yore shook her head chasing away thoughts of the betrayed Key Keeper. She did not feel guilty. She pried the scythe from the ground twirling it in her hand. Naruto finally spoke up making her eyes narrow. "Victoria I'm assuming." He said. He did his best to hide the fear in his voice, but she had trained herself to see past such things long ago.<p>

"Don't call me that. That name is dead to me." she said evenly. She could feel her fury building as she stared at him. The determination in his eyes made her want to laugh. She smiled. He would be an easy kill, but no one said she couldn't play with him a little. "I guess Truth told you about me, but you don't have your memories back yet so that's a plus." She said baiting him. She watched as Naruto narrowed his eyes examining her. "Just out of curiosity, exactly what was the payment for those memories?" he asked. She cocked an eyebrow at him.

Suddenly her skull rocked with pain. Yore blinked rapidly as she realized he had somehow made a clone when she wasn't looking. The clone had gotten behind her during their stare down and hit her in the back of the head. Her head was in agony. She tried to clear her vision, but she couldn't. All she could see was red, red, and more red drowning and pouring and painful. Naruto wasn't there anymore. She forgot where she was, why she was there. There only blood soaking her hands, and the brown haired girl with the slit throat.

* * *

><p>Naruto dispersed his clone after Victoria had fallen to her knees. He began backing away with the intent to call Yamoto and Kakashi if they weren't already on their way. Victoria's eyes darted around the room unfocused. He knew from what Truth and Tallah had indicated that Victoria was not an opponent so easily beaten, but for a moment he wondered if he had actually seriously injured her. "Blood." She said almost inaudibly. Naruto blinked in surprise. Her head was bleeding, but she wasn't paying any attention to it. She was staring at her hands with a mixture of horror and anger and grief that he didn't understand.<p>

Before he could register what was happening, her head snapped up from her hands and her eyes focused on him. She let out an inhuman snarl of rage that terrified him, and her knee was suddenly in his stomach. Naruto didn't even have time to recover before she swung the stick end of the scythe into his spine. Naruto fell back to the ground, and she planted a foot on his chest and held her scythe against his throat. "God you're pathetic!" She said. "You think I'm stupid enough to give you to key to all the questions you have? You think I'd actually give you a chance to erase me, or forgive you for trying?" Naruto blinked in a mixture of terror and confusion. Erase her? Why that word? She smiled at his unease. "Truth didn't tell you did he? About my punishment for all this chaos my counterparts and I caused? Even fighting to live has a price." Naruto eyed the girl's scythe trying to formulate a plan to get away from her. "So what?" he said. "You're just going to kill more people so you can survive? You're going to live with that?" Victoria pressed the blade deeper into his skin making him wince in pain. Her expression surprised him though. It wasn't triumphant or happy. It was lifeless. "I feel nothing." She said. Naruto blinked uncertain as images of an angry red-haired girl holding him down so long ago surfaced in his mind. "Who are you trying to convince?" he asked.

Before the surprised ex-guardian could reply, roots suddenly shot up from the ground and rushed towards her. Victoria jumped back and faced her new opponent. Yamato crouched on the floor with his hand out. Kakashi stood behind him with his Kunai at the ready. "Now Yore what kind of violent business could you possibly have with Naruto?" asked Yamato. Said girl flashed Yamato a crude smile. "Yamato, it's always such a pleasure to see you. However, I believe my business is my business. Don't you both agree?" Yamato tensed and Kakashi's gaze was as equally unfriendly. "Normally I would," Kakashi replied. "But when you start aiming such severe kill intent at one of my students I tend to want an explanation." He fired up his chidori and rushed the girl. Victoria scoffed. "Please." She said. "As if that little trick could stop a Guardian." Seeing what she was going to do Naruto reached out his hand. "Kakashi-sensei wait!" His warning came a little too late though. The girl was suddenly behind Kakashi. Her scythe blazed across his back creating a huge gash and knocking him to the floor. "Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled. He and Yamato both attacked the girl. Yamato tried using his tree roots, but she clapped her hands together and there was a purple flash of light that sent the wave rushing right back at them. They slammed into Yamato pinning him against the wall. Naruto got close only to have the girl abruptly grab his arm and force him to his knees on the ground. He stared up at her cold black eyes. She raised her scythe once more and Naruto's blood ran cold. He was going to die. He closed his eyes.

He kept waiting for the pain to come, but it never did. Hadn't Victoria hit him yet? Victoria cursed sounding farther away from him. He opened his eyes and saw the last thing he would've expected. Standing over him protectively locking her kunai with Victoria's scythe was Airi. Naruto gaped at the girl. "Why are you here?!" he yelled. Airi glared. "Is now really the time to be asking questions?!" she yelled back. He realized she had a point, and went to help Yamato. As he helped his team captain get free, he watched as the two guardians clashed.

They were still locked in a stand still. Airi's kunai and Victoria's scythe scratched against each other making the metal send out screeching sounds. He marveled at the amount of chakra rolling off both girls. He could just make out the outline of Airi's guardian mark on her right shoulder. If he looked close at Victoria he could just make out a faint mark on her left arm. It wasn't a dragon like Airi's and Tallah's though. It looked like a circle with an intricate spiral pattern that had five layers to it and a flower in the center. (4) The whole thing was black. The strain against the weapons was suddenly too great, and the girl's finally broke apart. "Stupid Bridge Builder!" Victoria yelled at Airi. "Shouldn't you be helping the gatekeeper and your other pathetic friends steal the gem shard from the Iron?" Airi smirked at the girl. "You're right I should be helping them, but I just can't resist the chance make things that much harder for you." Victoria shrieked with rage. She lunged for the other girl. The two danced around each other deflecting each other's blows. They were evenly matched, and Naruto wasn't sure who would win.

Airi finally sighed. "I really hate using so much chakra," she said. "But you know what? I hate you more." Naruto and Yamato watched as Airi formed a series of hand signs that they couldn't make out, and aimed them at Victoria. The girl was suddenly frozen in midair by some strange green symbol that appeared underneath her. Victoria looked around frantically. Naruto could see her trying and failing to use a release sign. Airi glared at her menacingly. "You disgust me. You don't deserve to take Yore's place in this world." She made an earth hand sign, and vines hurled themselves at Victoria. At the last second Victoria dispensed enough chakra to move from the circle, but wasn't fast enough to avoid it entirely. "AHH!" she yelled as the vine pierced through her shoulder and was pulled back out.

She and Airi stared each other down. Airi's voice was packed with poison. "Get out of here, and go back to Danzo before I decide to end you right here." She said icily. Victoria glared at her sending shivers down Naruto's spine. Even in Sasuke's eyes he had never seen such hate. After assessing the situation Victoria or Yore or whoever she was disappeared from the room. Airi's gaze was concerned. "She's getting more unstable."

"Why does she hate you so much?" Naruto asked.

Airi looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

Naruto shrugged. "Well she was perfectly calm before you got here, and she looked at you like you killed her best friend or something."

An odd look came over Airi's face, but it was gone before Naruto could decipher it. "I swear I'd love to just stab her and get this over with." She commented.

Naruto frowned. "Why can't you just send her back to her own dimension?" he asked. "It's not like you're helpless against her."

Airi looked up at his declaration. "So you _were_ the one that opened the door." She said.

Naruto looked at her in shock. "How did you know about the door?" he asked.

She scoffed at him. "Are you kidding? The Guardians are tied to the door. Opening that thing is like setting off a beacon. It's about as subtle as your outfit."

Naruto glared at the ground thinking how that would've been nice to know earlier. Wait what was wrong with his outfit!? Kakashi and Yamato were both staring at the girl in confusion. She blinked and motioned to Kakashi sternly. "I'm a medic-nin I can heal the gash on your back." Yamato looked at her uncertainly. "Naruto," he said. "Would you care to explain what's going on?" Naruto was about to reply when Airi interrupted him. "As much I would love to catch up everyone on everything we're running short on time. Naruto needs to get his missing memories back as soon as possible and we need to find Lori. All you need to know is that I'm on your side for now." Yamato nodded in acceptance. He obviously didn't trust her, but he could live with that response for the time being. Naruto, on the other hand, was more interested in the first thing she had said. "Lori's here?" Airi stared at him annoyed. "Yeah she's here, and as we speak she and the others are going after the gem in the Land of Iron." Naruto blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected to be this close to finding her already. Airi was suddenly alert like something had changed in the air. "We need to go. **Now**." She said.

Kakashi looked at the girl nodding in agreement. "She's right Naruto as far as we know Madara is attacking the summit along with Sasuke and his group. We need to get there as soon as possible." Airi frowned. "I'm not worried about Sasuke being there as much as I am about him running into Lori or Lori running into Danzo. Whatever Sasuke does there you can't interfere." Naruto and the others stared at her in confusion. Yamato was the one that voiced the question. "He's going there to help Madara start a war with the Shinobi! Why are you telling us not to interfere?" Naruto expected many responses, but nothing could've prepared him for the words that left Airi's mouth. "Because Sasuke's going to help Naruto get his memories back."

* * *

><p><strong>(1) For those of you that are not up to date with the latest episodes or manga chapters the Kyuubi's true name is revealed to be Kurama. Tallah avoids saying it because the tailed beast's names have to be given voluntarily.<strong>

**(2) Lorienn is Lori's real name. Iruka calls her that in my prequel story "Secret Friend of the Past."**

**(3) This is a reminder from the last chapter that Victoria is from the Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood universe. She's going to use a lot of references to Alchemy.**

**(4) The mark Naruto sees on Victoria is the mark the guardians from the Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood have. **


	13. Past and Present Combine

**Several hours later…**

Naruto stared at Airi's back as they ran to the summit. Kakashi and Yamato had already left ahead of them to see if they could head off Madara or find Sakura. Airi had assured them they wouldn't have any problems since Madara was only there to start a war, although that was still a problem in itself. Kakashi had also mentioned he was worried about Sakura doing something foolish and wanted to make sure her group was alright. This left Naruto following behind Airi, who was supposedly leading him to Lori. She hadn't really given him much explanation for her earlier claim that Sasuke was going to restore his memories. Naruto couldn't wrap his head around the idea. How was Sasuke going to help restore his memories when as far as he knew his friend wanted him dead?

This whole situation was bothering him. Tallah had said this would never have had anything to do with him if the Sage of Six Paths hadn't paid his price. Truth had said he was the last Shinobi he had dealt with, and Shizune said the archives were his last dying wish. What exactly had he paid Truth, and how did the Kyuubi fit into the plan? "Hey Airi!" he said catching the girls attention. Airi cocked her head letting him know she was listening. "What kind of deal did the Sage of Six Paths make with Truth? Why am I involved?" Airi narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "You know the back story right?"

Naruto nodded relaying the tale that Jiraiya had told him during training. "He was a monk that appeared in an age of endless war that was said to be the first to discover the truth of chakra. He used that truth to try and lead the world into an era of peace instead of war. He was the one that taught the world Ninjutsu. He became the first Jinchuriki in order to defeat the demon called the Ten-Tails and is revered as a Savior of the World."

Airi nodded her approval. Naruto frowned at her. "What does all that have to do with Truth?" Airi sighed. "You see there are a lot of holes in that story. The basics are there, but anything having to do with before he became the Sage of Six Paths is widely known as a mystery. You see the Sage of Six Path's wife was one of the first guardians. She was the first Bridge Builder of this world."

Naruto was confused. "So wait. I thought that the guardians were a beginning of time thing?" Airi shook her head. "Not at first. I can't really tell you much about our beginnings except that the idea originated from the northeast gate (1), and that the guardians have always been female. The guardians from that dimension have only changed twice in hundreds of years so I can also tell you time runs differently in every dimension. "

Naruto nodded. Airi continued. "Anyway, the Sage sought an end to the war with every fiber of his being. This was before chakra's true potential was discovered. His wife's name was Zena, and she realized that Truth would be able to give him the answers he sought to end the war. Realizing how desperate her husband was she told him of Truth and told him that she would be able to open the gate for him. She warned him beforehand though that there would be a price to pay no matter what he did. Not completely comprehending her words the Sage did not heed them, and passed through the gate to meet Truth. Truth revealed how to use the chakra to its full potential, but he warned him that ninjutsu feeds on the user's chakra, and that if they ran out they would die. When the sage left, he told him to not worry about the price because his wife had paid for him. When the Sage returned to his wife she had sacrificed her arm to the gate rendering her incapable of ever using ninjutsu. The Sage was angry at her sacrifice, but used it as more incentive to fuel his quest for peace. Sometime after he had spread the knowledge of ninjutsu across the world he faced the creature you know as the Ten-Tails. The legend you know tells us that he split the creature into nine different beings. The truth, however, is they were all separated to begin with and there were actually ten beings. The tenth being a bodyguard with wings instead of a tail." "Tallah." Naruto stated.

Airi nodded. "I'm not sure on all the specifics, but there was a catastrophe in the bridge that resonated from the northwest gate. (2) The keeper of the Gate of Darkness died. Her death offset the balance of Darkness in each of the dimensions. The beings you call demons were merely protectors whose nature was warped by the rage and anger that the Darkness left in its wake. When the Sage tried fighting the beast for the first time he could sense that it wasn't what it seemed. Finding no way to defeat the beast he implored Zena to open the gate for him once again after making her swear not to pay his price for him. Zena, knowing there was no way to convince her husband otherwise, reluctantly opened the gate for him once again."

"When the Sage asked Truth how to defeat the creature Truth told him the creature could not be defeated because it was meant to be an example of what would happen to the world if the balance of light and darkness was ever disturbed. He asked what could be done to stop the beast if it could not be destroyed. Truth told him that he would give him the means to return the beast to its original forms, but that the only way to stop the beast was to seal them inside human vessels. As payment the chaos the Sage sought to end would carry on through his sons and his sons would be doomed to war with each other until someone broke their pattern of violence. (3)"

"The sage used the knowledge that Truth had given him to stop the beast and restore the tailed creatures to their original forms, but he realized that the knowledge Truth carried would be a danger if anyone else sought to use the gate. Tallah, seeking a way to thank the man who had restored them, taught him a jutsu that would make the Gem of Aatos. It was an artifact that would allow the Keeper of the Gate of Darkness and the Kyuubi to be the only ones who could open the gate in your world. However, Tallah told him to live his life while he could before using the jutsu because the price for the gem would be his very existence. He did as she said, and when he was ready he made the gem and disappeared from this world."

Naruto blinked. "Wow that's a lot different than the version they teach in school." Airi smiled. "If there is one thing I've learned being a guardian it's that there is always a greater truth in everything. Just because someone believes something's the truth doesn't always make it so. Always look for the truth within the truth." Naruto frowned. "That doesn't tell me why the Sage chose the Kyuubi for the Gem." Airi looked thoughtful. "I know The Keeper of the Gate of Darkness was chosen because Tallah is always bound to whoever was chosen, but I don't know why the Kyuubi was included. Obviously he had some kind of connection with the Sage that's been lost through time." Naruto grunted in annoyance and tried to mull everything over in his brain. At this point he only hoped they would get there before Sasuke did something drastic.

* * *

><p>Madara watched his puppet in the shadows as he fought with Danzo. The rage and hatred seething through the raven's eyes gave him a thrill he couldn't even begin to describe. Danzo was having a hard time keeping up with him. It was only a matter of time before he loosened those bandages on his arm…There it was. Madara watched with glee as Danzo unveiled the source of all the trouble. Sasuke's eyes widened as he stared at Danzo's arm that was littered with the stolen eyes of his clan. Madara grinned as he felt Sasuke's killing intent darken. Using the boy for his own means was the best thing he had ever done. Seeing results of the arts from the West Gate was fascinating. (3) To others the eyes on the man's arm were twisted and crude, but to Madara it was a beautiful masterpiece. He could certainly admire the work that went into crafting the thing. A flash of red caught his eye across the way. Madara's grin widened. Speak of the artwork and the craftsman won't be far behind.<p>

* * *

><p>Victoria perched herself in a tree a ways from the bridge. She would wait to kill Naruto when he came to confront the Uchiha. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't the least bit curious to see her creation in action however. She had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure she found Danzo's favor and shoved the brat out of her way at the same time. She remembered it like it was yesterday…<p>

_"Yore, you can't do this!" The raven haired girl yelled at her from the wall she was chained to on the other side of the dark room. Danzo laughed at the girl. Victoria had Naruto pinned to the ground unconscious. She frowned, and got up slapping the girl across the face. She grabbed her roughly and made her look her in the eyes. "When will you get it through your thick little head? I am not Yore! Don't worry though, after I use your friend here to get what I want I'll kill you and fill in the gap. Then you can call me her name." The girl called Lori struggled in her grip and spat in her face. Victoria just laughed. Her counterpart, Lauren had spit in her face as well. "Now, now. You should be grateful! I'm giving you a chance to make up for your mistake. This is all your fault you know. You can finally redeem yourself by paying with your life, and while I'm at it I can make sure the Kyuubi doesn't get in my way! She laughed as the girl struggled to get loose from the wall and smiled with glee as she straddled Naruto's torso and used her alchemy to rip away the boy's memories…_

Victoria shook off the blood filling her vision again. She was startled from her confusion by Danzo's screams. Though the alchemy was powerful, it could only be used sparsely in this world. The fool had used all the eyes power in this one battle, and now the Uchiha had the upper hand once again. Victoria held no expression as she watched Danzo try to run from the revenge obsessed boy. She knew he was going to die, but she had no remorse. She had gotten what she needed from him already. He was useless and expendable.

* * *

><p>Sasuke closed in for the kill. He had cut off the man's arm with his clan, <strong>HIS CLAN'S<strong>, eyes on it. All that was left was to end his life. The end was inevitable. He knew it, and Danzo knew it too. All that was left was to strike. Danzo ran from him tripping in the process. Sasuke took his time reveling in the man's fear. Danzo looked up and a look of recognition crossed his face. Sasuke followed the man's gaze wondering who had come to aid him. He was surprised to see a red haired girl around his age staring back at him. Danzo reached out a hand toward the girl. "Yore!" he yelled. "Save me! Help your master!" Sasuke locked eyes with the girl daring her to do anything to stop him. He was surprised that she kept even with his glare and was not daunted by him at all. She broke their gaze and stared at Danzo. "Who is my master? The Uchiha can do what he likes. I'm done using you." Danzo stared at the girl in disbelief as she disappeared into the trees.

Sasuke put the mysterious girl out of his mind. He had been having a strange feeling of familiarity ever since he had arrived. He needed to focus on killing the man in front of him. He didn't see Madara watching with glee as Karin got taken hostage by a desperate Danzo. He didn't feel anything when he delivered the blow through his own team member. He only felt pleasure and satisfaction and the desire for more as the man's life was ended by his hands. He didn't even notice as Danzo's arm disintegrated behind him, and was oblivious to the ripple he had just set off.

* * *

><p>Lori was painfully aware of Sasuke's presence at the summit. She was just trying her hardest to stay as far away from him and Mardara as possible. She supposed she should thank her twin for making such a mess in the main building with Gaara. All the guards were away from the chamber and that made their job a whole lot easier. She watched as Ryu cracked the safe in the Samurai leader's office. When they heard the click of the lock Al had a bomb on it and everyone was ducking out of the way. The explosion wracked the side of the building. They quickly got the shard from the hidden compartment, and fled to the nearest exit. Lori breathed a sigh of relief as they exited the building. No one had gotten caught. They were safe for now. She stopped suddenly making Riyu pause. "Something wrong?" he asked. Lori narrowed her eyes. "Maybe. Go ahead to the rendezvous point without me. I'll catch up." Riyu nodded.<p>

Lori headed towards the bridge on the other side of the forest. She knew Sasuke was there, but she didn't really care at the moment. She could feel Yore there, but she didn't feel Airi. She rushed over to the bridge to make sure of her friends safety. By the time she got there Sasuke had already broken out the Sasanou. She stopped at a distance to watch. She'd be lying if she said she didn't take pleasure in watching Danzo squirm at her brother's hand. The man had this coming for a long time. She'd also be lying if she said she actually wanted her brother to kill him. She wanted him to pay for his crimes, but she didn't want him to die. She didn't want anyone to die. It sounded stupid even to her as a ninja, but she didn't want to kill anyone. She blinked watching her brother. She was pathetic. She didn't want anyone to die, but she didn't have the courage to try and stop her twin either. She burrowed a little farther in her tree as he glanced her way looking around in confusion. She raised an eyebrow. Did he actually sense her? That was unexpected.

She didn't give her brother a second thought though as soon as she caught sight of Yore. Danzo and Sasuke hadn't spotted either of them yet so if she was going to make a move it had to be now. Just as she was about to jump at the girl she halted as she felt the air shudder around her. She whipped her head around trying to identify the threat. She could see the yellow and black lines resonating around her as if waiting for something. That's when she realized what was happening. She whipped her head back focusing on Sasuke's fight with Danzo. Her eyes widened as her brother's sword dropped down on Danzo's arm severing it from his body. She watched the arm fall to the ground disintegrating behind her brother unnoticed. She watched as the lines began to glow and shake opening the portal somewhere close by. "**I told you I had this figured out.**" Tallah said simply. "**Feel better now?**" Lori didn't answer.

* * *

><p>Naruto was almost to the bridge when the air around him suddenly shifted. He gasped in surprise as he was dragged into his subconscious without warning, and dropped into his familiar dreamscape. He whipped around only to find himself face to face with Tallah and the creepy door. "Couldn't you have given me more of a warning?" Naruto grumbled. Tallah just stepped out of his way pointing at the door. "<strong>The price has been returned. If you want your memories back you must go to Truth now. He has already summoned the Bridge Builder from the West Gate. She has them. Everything has been paid. You need only take them back.<strong>" Naruto stared at her for what seemed like forever before he finally moved his legs toward the door. He paused by Tallah. "I'm not going to see you again after this am I?" Tallah snorted. "**I sincerely hope not. I can only handle the end of the world so many times.**" Naruto grinned and faced the door. As the eerie black hands grabbed him he said the last thing he could think to say to her. "Thank you." If he had stayed tangible for two more seconds he would have seen the smile that stretched across the Biju's face as she disappeared from his mind for the last time.

Naruto recognized the white realm when he rematerialized. "_So here you are again._" Truth's unmistakable voice sneered from behind him. Naruto turned and glared at the mostly faceless being. "Let's just get this over with." Truth chuckled and stepped aside. Naruto gasped at the girl behind him. The girl was a dead ringer for Airi, but she wasn't her. She wore blue Capri's, a white button up shirt and brown flip flops. Her hair was pulled into a high pony tail, and she had the same mark on her ankle that Victoria had on her arm. His eyes trained on the wicked looking scar stretching across the girl's neck. It stood out like a beacon. She smiled at him warmly. "My name is Ali. I have your memories. I'm glad you can finally have them back since I've been keeping them safe inside him for two years." (3) For the first time Naruto noticed the bright ball of light held in the girl's palm.

His eyes widened in awe as he reached his hand out to touch the glowing orb. At the last second though, he pulled his hand back. He was suddenly overcome with fear. He had been without his memories for so long. What would happen when he got them back? He felt stupid. How in the world was he going to help Lori and stop Victoria even if he did get them back? He was just an idiot who couldn't even save his best friend. Ali looked at him in concern. Truth laughed from his corner. Naruto stared at the ground and clenched his fist trying to drown out the annoying being. He looked up in surprise when Ali suddenly grabbed his hand. She smiled at him encouragingly and lifted his hand toward the light in her hand. "It'll be ok." She said. Naruto couldn't help but believe her and let her rest his hand on the light.

The sensation was like a waterfall flowing through his mind. He felt utterly calm as all the memories were returned to their rightful places. _"My name is Uchiha Lorienn. Everyone calls me Lori though. I can't get in trouble again Tou-chan will get mad! Iruka sensei's the best teacher in the world! Give Sasuke a chance he'll come around. Stop scaring the squirrels with your kunai already. You hold it like this doofus. __Hey Naruto, How long are you gonna lay there sleeping? I thought we had something good planned today! __I'd trip you, run, then tell you to hurry up and run. Itachi was cracking up the whole time she was trying to explain too. You don't need flashy, you have a mouth. Anybody ever told you how dangerous it is when you actually think? You're really clumsy, you have the worst grades in class, you're hated by half this village for some unknown reason, and well…you're just you. I'm jealous of you. You can be yourself and it's so easy for you. We'll still be best friends for a long time. It's the promise of a lifetime. Believe it!"_

Naruto frowned as he stumbled upon a darker memory. Lori had come back to the village when he was thirteen. She tried to warn him about Yore, but they ended up getting captured. He must've been unconscious the rest of the time because everything after that was black. Once the memories had been returned Naruto felt as if a weight had been lifted from him. He smiled at the girl and surprised her with a really tight hug. "Thank you." He said simply.

Of course that's when Kyuubi chose to butt in.** "What the hell are you doing in Truth's realm you idiot of a vessel! Where the hell is Tallah?! I know she forced me to sleep! To hell with her being the bodyguard of the Bijuu! I'll skin her dragon hide alive!" **Naruto sighed. "And hello headache." He stated. Truth cackled with glee. "_You are a hoot, but you have served your purpose in this realm Shinobi. I suggest you leave before I start deducting._" "Gladly." Naruto replied turning to exit the realm. Ali grabbed his arm abruptly surprising him. Her intense gaze drew Naruto's attention back to her scar. Did Victoria do that to her? "Be careful Naruto." She said. "Whether you like it or not, at the end of this journey all paths you have left to take will only end in blood." She let him go and he was pulled through the gate again before he could question her meaning.

When he came to, Naruto was surprised to find Airi shaking him. "Did you get them?" she questioned. Naruto grabbed her wrists and removed her hands from his shoulders. "Yes, but why are you shaking me?" Airi pointed towards the bridge. "We need to hurry up and help your sensei." Naruto looked up startled. "What's wrong with Kakashi?!" he asked alarmed. Airi pulled him up and started running. "Nothing, but Sasuke might decide to kill your pink haired friend if you don't hurry up!" Naruto moved faster than he ever remembered moving in his life. Thankfully he had just enough time to get Sakura safely out of the way before Sasuke stabbed her with his sword. A little cut from her Kunai on his cheek wouldn't hurt anything. (4)

* * *

><p><strong>(1) A reminder that the Northeast Gate is Elemental Gelade<strong>

**(2) Northwest Gate is Blazeblue**

**(3) Madara is referencing to Alchemy here.**

**I am not recounting Naruto's whole fight with Sasuke. If you want to see it, Youtube Sasuke vs. Naruto at Kage Summit. Pretty sure they have it somewhere.**

**Is it bad that I find my version of the Sage of Six paths past less complicated than the actual version? Masashi Kishimoto is making my brain hurt. **


	14. Some Explanation

**Here's the next chapter. Hopefully y'all are enjoying my new version of the story so far. Happy reading!**

* * *

><p>Naruto doubled over in pain and groaned. He did not feel good. Not only had he just fought with Sasuke, but after he disappeared Sakura remembered her kunai was tipped with poison. Kakashi tried to help him up while Airi laughed her butt off behind a concerned Sakura. Sakura turned on the girl with fire in her eyes. "What is your problem?!" she yelled grabbing her by the collar. "Who are you anyway?!" Airi just kept laughing at her. "Relax pinkie, he'll heal up in no time with the Kyuubi's chakra. Also, didn't you look at my file…?" Before Sakura could answer Airi snapped to attention and pushed Sakura away from her. She cursed confusing Naruto until he saw Victoria ram the girl right in the stomach. Airi crashed into the stone wall of the bridge with a sickening thud.<p>

Sakura reacted immediately aiming her kunai at the girl's face only to have Victoria grab it and end up in front of her. Sakura gasped as the girl landed a front kick right in her ribs. Naruto's eyes widened as Sakura was thrown several feet back. This was not happening. Not right now when he could barely stand! Kakashi helped Naruto up trying to support his weight so they could get away. Yamato released several roots from the ground trying to hit her. His eyes widened when the girl weaved through the branches like it was nothing and sliced him across the chest with her scythe. Naruto knew as she got closer to him and Kakashi that there was no escape this time. He was dead weight, and Kakashi had his hands full with him. As Victoria got ready to swing her scythe Naruto saw a silver kunai whiz past his head. The Kunai imbedded itself into Victoria's left shoulder making her drop the scythe.

Suddenly, the girl straight out of Naruto's memories was in front of Victoria delivering an upward kick to her chin and shoving her backwards. After a moment, Victoria righted herself. Lori stood there with two Sai in her hands string the girl down. "Sorry am I interrupting something?" She asked sarcastically. Victoria got an absolutely murderous look across her face and dove for the girl. Lori ducked down and threw her right sai at the girl as she passed over her. It whizzed past Victoria's cheek, and then she rolled and grabbed her scythe aiming it at Lori's head. Lori bent over backwards barely missing the blow. Victoria jumped up aiming the scythe down. Lori flipped over retrieving her sai and used them to deflect the blow and push the girl back. Naruto was surprised when another Kunai came from out of nowhere hitting the girl in the side making her jump back. Naruto realized Sakura had recovered and was trying to rush the girl again. Victoria glared at her. "You're annoying!" She yelled slamming the end of her scythe into the girl's side knocking her down.

Airi had come to, and realized what Victoria was going to do when she turned the scythe on Sakura. Airi struggled to her feet trying to make it in time. Kakashi dropped Naruto charging his Chidori and rushing towards the girl. Naruto tried to stand as Victoria aimed the scythe down above Sakura. Sakura was staring up at the girl with wide eyes trying to move out of the way. "That's enough!" Lori yelled suddenly. She made the same series of hand signs Naruto had seen Airi do earlier with the addition of five more. Lori thrust her hands out aiming the jutsu at Victoria. Victoria froze in mid swing her gaze fierce and intense. The same symbol as before appeared beneath her feet except this time ice snaked up from the symbol freezing the girl in place. Sakura stared in astonishment and fell back on her butt from shock. Kakashi was just as surprised as she was stopping and turning off his Chidori. Airi stopped and bent down breathing as sigh of relief. Naruto could only stare at the raven haired girl. Airi glared at her. "You couldn't have just done that in the first place?" Lori shrugged smiling. "Give me a break. You know it takes a minute to work up the chakra for that thing." She was suddenly aware of Naruto staring at her.

Naruto froze as she started walking towards him. Her face was completely unreadable, and he had no idea what to say. What was he supposed to say? Hey Lori I'm glad you're not dead. By the way I got my memories back. Sorry I forgot about you! Do you still like stories as much as you did when we were little? Somehow he didn't think that would go over very well at all. He tensed when he realized she was right in front of him. She bent down in front of him. Wait when had he ended up back on the ground? The last thing he remembered before he blacked out completely was her poking him right in the center of the head saying, "Give me back the piece you stole from Tia doofus."

* * *

><p>Lori sighed as Naruto blacked out. One problem down, four more to go. One of those problems was currently aiming a very dangerous looking green fist at her. She dodged the girl jumping back a few feet, and sweat dropped at Sakura's murderous glare that was currently aimed at her. "You!" she yelled at Lori enraged. Lori tried to calm the girl down. "Hey can we just talk this out for a minute…" she started only to barely dodge the fist aimed at her face. Tallah chuckled in her head. "<strong>You deserved that.<strong>" She said. Lori snorted. "Shut up." Sakura was slightly terrifying on full rage. "You electrocuted me!" Lori sidestepped the punch to her side. "You chained me up with that jutsu!" She jumped over the kick aimed at her leg. "You threatened my friends!" She sidestepped the punch to her other side. "And you suppressed my memories! That hurt!" She ducked under the punch aimed at her head and caught the girl's arm standing up. She glared at the pink haired girl. "Ok I get that I was pretty much an ass, but would it really be too much to ask you to hear me out for the next 5 minutes at least? I promise I'll make it short." Sakura glared at her and was about to retort back when Kakashi grabbed her shoulder. "Sakura she did just save your life, and Airi saved Naruto's life only a few hours ago. The least we can do is listen. Besides," he said looking over her head. "We seem to have more company."

Lori followed Sakura's now cautious gaze to where Riyu was now standing with the others. He stood in front with his dagger tail in hand while Ryu hung sideways on a wall to the left with his weapon scroll at the ready. Tia stood behind them on the right with her fans out and a maniacal grin on her face. Al was behind Ryu on the left with a bomb in his hand. With the exception of Tia they were all glaring. She glanced at Riyu fighting the relieved smile that was trying to come across her face. "Thought you were out as soon as we were done here?" She said. Riyu hit her gaze evenly. "We got caught." Lori blinked in surprise. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Airi's gaze go towards the bridge. She followed her gaze and tensed. On top of the bridge glaring at the group was the Kazekage, and he didn't look happy. "I saw the end of your fight." He said in monotone surprising her. Gaara glanced at the rest of her group studying each one of them. "Shizune recovered some interesting information in Naruto and Sakura's absence." Lori met his gaze curiously not sure what to expect. Gaara looked at her his eyes seeming to stare into her soul. "Uchiha Lorienn," he said catching everyone off guard. "Rine Airi, Elric Alphonse, Atomashi Riyu, Atomashi Ryu, and Amakashi Tia. We need to talk." Riyu's eyes widened, and Airi looked just as surprised as she did. Even Tallah was silent within her mind. Being the naturally childish person she was Lori held her arms upright out in front of her. "You caught me."

* * *

><p><strong> "Naruto." <strong>Naruto groaned in his sleep. Geez his whole body hurt. He didn't want to get up yet. The bed felt nice. **"Naruto."** Whose voice was that? **"Naruto!" **the voice demanded a little louder. Naruto groaned again. "5 more minutes." He muttered. **"YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING EXCUSE FOR A VESSEL! I GET SEALED BY THAT ****ING DRAGON FOR WEEKS, AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO TELL ME FIVE MORE MINUTES!?** **WAKE YOUR IDIOTIC *** UP SO I CAN SKIN HER ALIVE!"** Naruto screeched and bolted up with a jolt. "What the heck?!" he yelled. **"FOOL!" **yelled the Kyuubi. **"Did you really forget about me that easily you worthless sack of flesh?!"** Naruto groaned. He forgot the Kyuubi had been released when he got his memories back. "If I find Tallah for anything, it'll be to put you back to sleep." He said annoyed. **"How dare you! I'll skin you first you little whelp!" **

It was then that Shizune came into the tent. "Oh, Naruto you're awake!" Naruto grinned. "Remind me not to get hit by one of Sakura's kunai ever again please." Shizune laughed. Naruto laughed with her then remembered exactly what had gone on at the summit. "Shizune!" he yelled grabbing the poor woman's wrist and practically scarring her to death. "What happened after I blacked out?" Shizune frowned and pried his hand off her wrist. "Before I tell you anything else, you should know that Gaara chose to approach the thieves on somewhat peaceful grounds despite the urging of the council to have them arrested. He managed to convince the council to give him access to the 3rd Kazekage's restricted documents, and for whatever reason is allowing them to have the green gem you took from Tia as well as the one they stole from the Land of Iron. He then insisted that they come here and formally request the Hokage to give them ours. Apparently, all the hidden villages have one in their Archives." Naruto blinked in surprise. "They're here in the Village?" Shizune nodded "Sakura retrieved the memories Lori suppressed and explained the situation to Tsunade-sama after she woke up." Naruto grinned. "Obaa-chan woke up!? That's great!" Shizune nodded. "She's pulled out our own restricted files and is currently dealing with the thieves at this moment. She'll have to decide what to do and take it up with the rest of the Kages."

Naruto nodded and tried to get out of bed. Shizune stopped him. "Where do you think you're going?" Naruto sighed. Shouldn't she know him by now? "I'm going to talk to them." He was specifically going to talk to Lori, but she didn't need to know that. Shizune grabbed his arm and forced him back onto the bed. "Really Naruto you need to rest. Besides there's something you should know before you talk to Lori." Naruto debated arguing with the medic-nin, but decided against it. Shizune's face smoothed out in relief. "After you and Sakura left Gaara had Kankuro go through the employment records and found Lori's profile. The name on there, Rin Fae, was a fake of course. He sent me a copy of her profile. Iruka came by my tent saying her was concerned over something you had talked about with him, and he recognized her picture." Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

Shizune continued. "I searched through the Uchiha clan's records, but I couldn't find her file. Gaara also sent a copy of the sketch drawn of Riyu to an ally in Iwagakure. The people placed in the Shimari refugee camp recognized him, and said he and his twin had disappeared as children. There were also no records of them. So, I bypassed security and went through some of the files the third Hokage had entrusted to Tsunade-sama. I found out that when he destroyed one of Orochimaru's hideouts about three years ago the Anbu discovered some files he had along with his research. Do you remember Gato?" Naruto scowled. "Yeah. I remember the weasel. What's that got to do with the files?" Shizune continued. "Orochimaru apparently struck a deal with Gato. He would let him be free to rule the Land of Waves only if he could establish a camp in Gato's territory." Naruto suddenly remembered the comment Truth had made at the Bridge. _"Yore, the Keeper of the Gate of Light for your world, died three years ago in one of Orochimaru's underground slave camps. Coincidentally, it was one that Gato supplied children for so Orochimaru wouldn't take over his areas of business."_ Shizune continued. "Most of the people taken were orphaned children and kids off the street. Kids no one would miss. As far as we know he did experiments on several of them and tortured them as punishment for disobedience."

Naruto shuddered. Shizune nodded in agreement. "The files of the children kidnapped were taken away so no one would become suspicious. I found files on Lori, Airi, and the twin boys in the materials from the raid along with several hundred more." Naruto clenched his fist in the sheets. Kyuubi was, for once, silent. Shizune looked sad. "In light of what Madara informed you about the Uchiha Coup-de-tat, I think it's safe to say many of the council hoped she was dead after they didn't find her body in the compound." Naruto had no words as he looked down at his sheets glaring. Before Naruto could think about what to do next Sakura had barged her way into the tent and banged him on the head. "OW!" Naruto yelled at her. "What was that for!?" He shrunk back a little when he realized Sakura was seething.

"YOU IDIOT!" she yelled at him. "How many times have I told you not to keep important things like this from me?!"

Naruto rubbed his head momentarily confused. "What things?"

Sakura practically growled at him. "I know about the Bijuu invading your mind Naruto. Lori told Tsunade-sama everything!"

It was then Tsunade chose to enter the tent. "Calm down Sakura it's probably better that he didn't tell us. We would've only made things more complicated for them." Sakura sulked. "I still don't like her or the rest those thieves." Tsunade glanced at her pupil and smiled. "You don't have to like them. You just have to trust their actions will be justified and monitored from now on. As for you," she said glaring at Naruto. "How many times do I have to treat you baka?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry Baa-chan." Tsunade rolled her eyes. "More got knocked loose in your head than I thought if you're actually apologizing." Naruto sweat dropped. Obviously the old hag was the same as always despite being in a coma for several weeks. "I did actually come here for a reason Naruto." She said catching everyone in the room's attention. "After talking to the thieves, the other Kages and myself have decided to let them have the remaining shards of the gem as long as they repair and pay back all the damages they caused in the villages. We've agreed to send you with Uchiha Lori and Rine Airi in three days to send Victoria back to wherever the hell she came from and fix this whole mess. I swear I hate the Guardians. They have a habit of turning all logic upside down."

Naruto blinked in surprise. "Tsunade Baa-chan did you already know about the gem and the guardians?" Tsunade crossed her arms. "As a child I remember my grandfather telling me stories about them. I actually met one of them during the War. Her name was Kayuki Mura if I remember correctly. She was the Keeper of the Gate of Light at the time. She was a little younger than me, but I remember watching her fight. It was one of the most spectacular and terrifying things I've ever seen." Naruto processed the information. He hadn't really thought about what the previous guardians had been like until Airi had mentioned the Sage's wife, Zena. He wondered exactly how many there had been since then.

Tsunade waved her hand getting his attention. "Either way they're staying here for now. So, if you want more information on your mission I suggest you ask one of them when you're able." Naruto nodded appreciatively, and sweat dropped as Tsunade declared loudly that she was going to celebrate her revival with a few drinks and some gambling. Shizune followed her out the door trying to persuade her otherwise. Sakura still sat down across from him looking unsettled. "I don't trust her." She said. Naruto didn't have to ask who she meant. "You don't have too. I do." Sakura gazed at him evenly. "I know. That's what worries me." Naruto frowned at his friend a bit irritated. "I can take care of myself Sakura. Besides she was my best friend…" "_Was_ your best friend." Sakura bit back. "What is she now? She was willing to rob several villages and destroy their archives. She suppressed my memory to keep everyone off her trail. Look at her family's track record. Itachi murdered his entire clan for power. Sasuke killed Orochimaru, Itachi, Danzou, and was willing to kill Karin to get what he wanted. He almost killed me. What makes you think she's any different?" Naruto's mind went blank. Sakura waited for his answer. She left an hour later without one because, honestly, he didn't have one to give.

* * *

><p>Lori pulled at the contraption hooked around her neck. The Hokage, Tsunade, had gotten the other Kages to forgive their "misguided" thefts and let them pursue Victoria on one condition. Until they completely reimbursed and repaired all the damages they had caused to the villages they had to wear these stupid collars so the Kages could make sure they wouldn't run away. Not exactly the turning point of the story she had been hoping for, but she wasn't in jail. She scowled at the thing though. It reminded her a little too much of the chains Orochimaru had made them wear around their wrists and ankles underground.<p>

Airi glanced over at her from her bed on the other side of the room. Tsunade had given them rooms in an apartment downtown where they could stay until they were ready to pursue Victoria. The time had been extended to a week instead of three days after the slug-sanin had looked at some of their injuries more closely. Tia was stretched out on the floor looking up at the ceiling. Airi gestured toward her collar. "Doesn't give a very pleasant feeling." She commented trying to lighten the mood. Lori looked at her friend pouting. "I feel like a dog chained up for being bad." She complained. Airi frowned. "Compared to what the punishment could've been I'd say we got off easy." She reprimanded. Lori was silent. "Ya know," Tia piped up from the floor. "We could've just asked the stupid Kage's permission in the first place. Sure it would've been hard to convince them that an assassin, a refugee, and four people who don't exist needed a gem shard hidden in their archives, but it would've been honest and a lot less hassle."

Lori rolled over and faced the wall. "Since when does an assassin care about being honest?" She had barely enough time to dodge the kunai embedded where her head had been two seconds ago. Tia walked over and pulled her kunai from Lori's headboard. "Look I know you're still hiding something from us." She looked back as she opened the door to leave. "You need to figure out exactly how far you're willing to go here, because if you keep going like this I can promise you you're gonna have a hell of a time crawling back out of that hole you've dug for yourself." She left the two girls in silence. Airi chuckled humorlessly. "Kind of hard to argue with that logic isn't it?" Lori just nodded. She had never answered Tallah when she asked her if she was happy. She didn't feel like she'd been happy in a long time. She had spent so long preparing to die that she didn't know what to do now that she had to fight to live. After sitting for a few more minutes, she stood up and made for the door. "You know you're going to eventually have to tell them what you were planning to do if Naruto didn't get the memories back." Airi said making Lori pause. "I know." She said. "And I will." She smiled sadly at her friend. "First, there's something I have to do. Don't wait up for me." She could still feel her friend's eyes on her back as she slipped out the door. She didn't follow Tia. She had another destination in mind. A place she'd been avoiding for far too long.


	15. Answers

Naruto could tell the village was a little on edge with its six new occupants. He watched as Tia walked down the street like she owned the place, and the twins surveyed the area from a bench like they were mapping every corner. He had gone to the room the group had been staying in to find Lori, but Airi informed him she had stepped out again and probably wouldn't be back for several hours. He frowned. She had been expertly avoiding him for days. He wandered over to Hokage summit and was surprised to find the bomb maker of the group, Al if he remembered right, looking at the large monument.

Naruto cautiously approached the dubbed bomb maker of the thieves. He was about to ask him if he'd seen Lori when Al faced him and asked him a question instead. "Are you ok?" Naruto balked. He wasn't sure how to answer the collared thief who just asked him about _his_ well being. "I'm not the one who's under house arrest until they pay all the countries they stole from back, and fix the damages." He finally said. Al laughed. "True, but you are the one who was out for the count on account of your girlfriend's poison kunai." Naruto turned red. "She would've died if I hadn't of saved her, and besides she's not my girlfriend!" He declared indignantly. Al smirked. "Yeah, but I bet you'd like her to be." Naruto frowned and leaned over the railing. Al was right, but he had accepted that Sakura's heart belonged to Sasuke long ago. "Careful," teased Al. "Lean too far over that thing and you just might fall off." Naruto smiled. He felt comfortable around the boy for some odd reason. **(1)** "I did once a couple of years ago. Iruka sensei really let me have it." Al chuckled. "I could see that." Naruto leaned over the railing in comfortable silence with the thief for what seemed like a long time.

He examined Al out of the corner of his eye. At first glance, he definitely wasn't what you would picture a thief to look like. He looked quite serene and harmless staring at the Hokage's faces. "So what's your story," he inquired curiously. "Since you thieves seem to know all about mine?" Al smiled. "You sure you want to hear? Lori's better at telling stories, and mine's not pretty." Naruto scoffed. "Whose is?" Al smiled and looked at the monument as if he was seeing a time long past.

"Riyu, Ryu, and I all lived in a small village called Hikari in the Earth Kingdom. Two villages on both sides of Hikari were at war at the time, and our village was attacked by raiders. They were convinced we were enemies of their side because our doctors treated soldiers from both villages. Even though we were neutral territory, they burned the whole thing right down to the ground. Both our parents and my sister, Winry, died **(2) **along with many other people. Everyone who was left was assigned to an area outside of the villages to avoid overpopulation. They called us refugees. The Kage decided to employ some of the orphans in weapons manufacturing to prepare for any future wars. I, obviously, was apprenticed by a bomb maker. Riyu and Ryu worked with the blacksmiths making Shuriken and other weapons. They were taken by Gato's men a few weeks later. Their files were gone and they just disappeared. It was like someone had wiped them clean out of existence. They came back with Airi and Lori about two and a half years ago. They said they had decided to travel since none of the nations technically owned them anymore. They asked me if I wanted to join them. I've been traveling with them ever since."

Naruto mulled the story over noticing how similar his situation had been to Sasukes. "Aside from the raiders it doesn't seem too bad." He said. "Sounds like it has a happy ending." Al smiled sadly pulled from his reverie. "I suppose so," He said. "But there was a good while where all I could think about was dropping a bomb on both those villages and ending the civil war for good. I was understandably angry after all. Not only had I lost my family, but my best friends were just ripped away and forgotten like pieces of trash." Naruto stared at the water in the canyon below them. "How did you get past the anger?" he asked hesitantly. Al stared at the water below. "Anger and pain are powerful things. They eat away at your heart like an infection, and before you know it you'll do anything…believe anything just to make the ache go away. If I had decided to drop a bomb on both of those villages one day I can guarantee you no one would've questioned me. I had every intention of doing so until I went to the villages and saw the toll the war had taken on them as well. What I realized in that moment watching their people struggle and waste away was that my family was dead, and no amount of killing or suffering was going to change that. The only thing death would accomplish was more pain. So I let it go."

Naruto stared at the ground clenching his fists. "If that's all there is, then why do people still try to fill that void with revenge and death?" he asked angrily. Al sighed looking up from the water below. "People deal with pain differently. Some believe dealing out what they were given will make it go away, and others believe they themselves should be punished for their own weakness. Take this from someone who was in the dark for a while. The person you're talking about has already realized they can't fill it. Now if you'll excuse me I need to drag Airi out of her room for some sightseeing." Al said walking off. "Oh by the way," he said stopping. "Lori's at the training grounds." He resumed walking and gave Naruto a backwards wave.

Naruto balked for a moment and chuckled wondering how he knew he was looking for Lori. After walking what seemed like hours, he finally saw the training grounds he had become so familiar with over the years. He was surprised to see Lori sitting cross legged in front of the memorial on the training field. Puzzled he walked up and stopped a few feet away from her. He tensed when she let out a sigh. He wasn't sure what to say so he just said the first thing that came to his mind. "Just exactly what were you thinking trying to open the gate by yourself stupid?"

Now he had gone over a dozen different scenarios in his head, but not one of them had included her suddenly pulling a kunai on him and tackling him to the ground and punching him across the face. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR?" he yelled at the girl throwing her off of him. Lori flipped over landing on her feet. "THAT," she spat out. "Was for ruining my plans." Naruto gaped at her. "YEAH WELL YOUR PLANS WERE STUPID!" he yelled at her. "YOU WERE GONNA DOOM THE UNIVERSE!" Lori balked at him in surprise. "YEAH WELL I DIDN'T KNOW THAT AT THE TIME!" she yelled indignantly. "YOU'RE A GUARDIAN SHOULDN'T YOU KNOW THAT KIND OF THING?!" Naruto yelled back throwing his hands up in the air. "I WAS MISINFORMED!" She yelled crossing her arms. "OH YOU MISSED SOMETHING ALRIGHT!" Naruto shot back getting in face. "I WASN'T THE ONE WHO LET VICTORIA RIP HIS MEMORIES OUT OF HIS SKULL!" she yelled poking him in the chest. "WELL I WASN'T THE ONE WHO DECIDED TO STEAL EVERYTHING INSTEAD OF JUST BEING UP FRONT ABOUT IT!" Naruto yelled right back. Lori bawled her hands into fists. "I WASN'T THE ONE WHO TOOK FOREVER TO OPEN THE **** THING!" Naruto rolled his eyes. "YOU JUST WANT SOMEONE TO BLAME!" Uncharacteristic rage seethed in the raven girl's eyes. "THAT'S IT!"

Without warning she tackled him to the ground. They rolled around kicking, punching, and smacking the living daylights out of each other. After a few minutes of this they finally separated looking like they had both literally just gotten out of a cat fight. "What's… the matter Uzumaki? Thought… you wanted… to fight me after… we got out of the academy." Lori panted. (2) Naruto just bent over catching his breath. He had just been painfully reminded of why this girl had been the one helping him learn how to throw kunai when they were kids. "I…don't know what… should humiliate me more… the fact that you… can still kick my butt in a fight… or the fact that I actually… remember us asking Itachi to explain where babies came from when your mom wouldn't tell you." He told her. Lori stared at him a minute then laughed just letting herself fall over to the ground. "God I'm an idiot." She said after they had both caught their breath. Naruto laughed falling back into the old routine easily. "An Uchiha just admitted to being an idiot. I think you just made history." Lori numbly threw a clump of grass at him.

Naruto frowned sitting on the ground in front of her head. "You didn't go to your house?" he questioned her. She looked up at him. "You know," she said. "I tried to go inside the compound when I was here two years ago. It was before I went to find you." Naruto smiled remembering her approaching him after the second test in the Chunin exams. He was surprised he hadn't suffocated her. That was the week before he had met Jiraiya-sensei. Lori sighed closing her eyes "I kept trying, but somehow I couldn't make myself open the door then either." She opened her eyes again looking irritated. "I thought I was ready to face it this time, but seeing it all torn apart like that…" she looked at the memorial a frown replacing the grimace.

Naruto stared at her a minute not understanding the expression on her face. "Why did you leave after Danzo and Victoria stole my memories?" He finally asked. The moment Ali had returned his memories he had recalled what happened. He remembered Danzo's men beating them and chaining them to a wall. He remembered Lori struggling to help him as Danzo drew him forward and Victoria put her hand to his forehead. He remembered the burning and ripping sensation like a thousand lightning bolts piercing his skin as she had ripped away every last one of his and the Kyubbi's memories of her and the gem.

Lori took a long time to respond carefully thinking over her answer. "Tallah paid the price to hide your memories with your counterpart in the West Gate." She finally said. "The only way to get them back would've been to have her open the gate from our world to the bridge and Airi to open the West Gate from there. Because of the Sage's deal with Truth the price would've been too high to pay, even for all three of us, to open the gate without the Gem of Aatos. Danzo put a bounty on my head after that so I left. I followed a lead on Reika Mura, the great-granddaughter of a past Keeper of the Gate of Light. I thought she might have information on opening the portal without the gem. Tallah and I persuaded Tia to help me when the Sishin attacked us for unintentional involvement in an uprising. She betrayed them in exchange for our protection and led me to Reika. Reika told me that if I didn't send Victoria back to her world her presence would cause this world to collapse on itself creating chaos in the other three worlds and what would be left of this world."

Naruto's stared indignantly. "So what?" he said his voice rising in anger with each word. "You just **decided** to look for the gem fragments and open the portal by yourself without me? You didn't even have the courteousy to tell you teammates the price would be your death." Lori paled slightly at Naruto's revelation. "Yeah that's right." He said. "I remember that part of the deal too." Naruto said angrily. Lori stared at him in surprise. He didn't care. "You could've asked the nations for the gem shards. You could've told Sakura who you were. You could've told your teammates why you needed the gems. And you sure as hell could've helped Tallah get my memories back! I mean honestly, did you want to die!?" Lori's face shut down into a blank stare under his rage and she simply looked away. Naruto gazed at her his anger becoming confusion then horror as he realized exactly what had been going through the girls head. "You wanted to die." He stated.

Something flashed in Lori's eyes. It was gone to quickly for him to tell what it was. Maybe fear. Finally she spoke. "It's all my fault." She said. Naruto was stunned. That wasn't the answer he had been expecting. "What do you mean it's all your fault?" he asked. "It was an accident." She said. "The guards had been whipping Yore and I all day." Naruto's eyes widened recognizing the former Guardian of the Gate of Light's name. "They had finally stopped, and I was just so angry. I didn't think about what I was doing. I grabbed the guard's sword, but Yore didn't want them to kill me and I couldn't stop…" she trailed off not able to continue. For the first time in days Naruto felt like he understood. "You killed her didn't you?" Lori nodded numbly. "That's why Victoria wants to kill me. She wants to take my place as punishment for ending her life early. She has a right too." "Do your teammates know?" he asked. "Tia and Al don't." Naruto was silent reeling from the information he had just been given.

Before he could ask anything else one of the twins seemed to materialize out of the shadows. Lori stood up quickly the horror evident on her face. "Riyu!" she exclaimed. "How long were you there?" Riyu didn't answer the girl. He just glared. "The Hokage wants you in her office. She plans to send you both out tomorrow and wants to talk with you beforehand." Lori nodded, and Riyu disappeared. "Boyfriend?" Naruto questioned. "…Not right now Naruto." She said not waiting before heading off. Naruto sighed.

* * *

><p>When they got to Tsunade's office Lori saw everyone was already there. Airi was sitting on the floor tracing shapes into the floorboard, Ryu was making conversation with the Nara heir, Riyu was leaning against a wall by Sakura who was watching Tia sharpen her fans warily, Naruto stumbled in after her making Lori smile a little, and Al was in a corner trying to put the gem together. The other nations had given them the ones they were lacking under Gaara's persuasion. The one from the Sand Village that Naruto had taken was the only one missing. "You don't have to do that Al." She told her friend. "The pieces will meld back together as soon as the Hokage gives us the last one." Al glanced at her. "Doesn't mean I can't already have them in some kind of order." He replied smiling. Tsunade walked in as they were speaking about the gem in question. "Yes there is certainly no harm in that." She stated smiling humorously at the boy's attempt. Lori smirked. It never mattered what nation they were in. Everyone always loved Al. Tsunade handed him the last piece of the gem and everyone watched slightly wide-eyed as the pieces glowed and snapped together in a rush like metal to a magnet. Al smirked. "Told you it wouldn't hurt." He said smugly.<p>

Tsunade walked over to her desk and sat down in her chair. "Lori, since this is your mission, why don't you enlighten me and the rest of your team on its ramifications?" Lori blinked at the Hokage in confusion. Tsunade stared Lori straight in the face. It unnerved her greatly. "Quite honestly Tsunade-sama we can open the portal anywhere, but since we don't want any civilians getting caught in the crossfire the idea is to keep moving until we cross paths with Victoria." "Wait a second though." Naruto said interrupting her. "Didn't you seal her in that jutsu? If we're just aiming to bump into her why don't we just go back to the Land of Iron?" Surprisingly Tia answered Naruto's question for them. "Well blondie," she said earning a glare from Naruto. "Even though Lori and Airi can both use alkaymay infused chakra attacks their stupid equivalent exchange law is still in place. Now because of the Sage's deal with Truth, alkaymayk attacks take way more chakra in this universe than they actually should. It may not have looked like it, but story-nut there used about a third of her chakra activating that technique. In reality the attack was actually a low level one so it doesn't last long at all." Everyone in the room blinked at the ex-assassin. Lori was the first to recover. "Ok first of all," she said to Tia. "The word is alchemic not alkaymayk."

"I'm just impressed she actually listened when you and Airi were telling her about that." Ryu piped up.

Tia glared at him. "Don't make me use you for target practice."

"Ok, ok back to the point." Tsunade interjected.

Lori gave her attention back to the Hokage. "Anyway," she said. "My jutsu will have already worn off so she's probably already on her way back here. Once we find her, Airi will stall her while Naruto and I open the gate. Then all we have to do is get all three of us inside, destroy the mark on her arm, and then we're home free." Tsunade considered her words thoughtfully. "Alright." She said finally. "That's all I needed you people for. Now everyone except Lori get out of my office!" Lori balked in surprise while everyone else just sweat dropped and left the room.

Tsunade kept the girl's gaze the whole time they were leaving, and kept it up even after they were gone. Lori fidgeted under the woman's stare not liking how she seemed to read her soul. After a while Tsunade sighed. "This is essentially an assassination mission correct?" Lori nodded curiously. "You never associated with Victoria before her counterpart died. Is this also correct?" Tsunade asked. Lori nodded not sure where the Hokage was going with this. Tallah didn't really have a clue either. Tsunade nodded. "If those answers are both true then why were you determined to sacrifice yourself as a price?" Lori balked at the blunt question. "Please," said Tsunade. "I met a guardian who was a close personal friend of my grandfather's. I know enough about that gem to put the other Kage's to shame. The only other way you would've ever had a prayer of opening that gate without Naruto would've been to sacrifice yourself as a price. And don't tell me it's because you have to send her back. If it was that simple you would have captured her already." Lori felt her chest tighten not wanting to reveal the secret, but knowing she wouldn't be leaving here until she did. Tallah sighed inside her head. **"We've got nothing to lose at this point Little Bit. Might as well get it out." **Lori let out a breath knowing her partner was right. It was time to end the secrets. "The Law of Equivalent Exchange states that to get something you have to provide something else of equal value. Taking Yore's life is what threw the threads into chaos in the first place so another life must put them back into balance. I have to kill Victoria to balance the threads again. It's my punishment, and her price."

* * *

><p>She could see them all. Every last one of Yore's memories flowed through her. It didn't matter that they weren't hers. She was the girl's counterpart and had been exposed to them all the moment she entered this realm. Just as her other counterpart's had seeped into her mind as each one crumbled lost in an expanse of time. She had four lives coursing through her. All the happy times, the sadness, and anger put to an abrupt and unfair end. The death of three good people weighed in her mind all as punishment for the Keeper of the Gate of Darkness' mistake. There was no regret anymore. No regret for Saya's actions that led her here, no care for the death of Mia's pleasure, no remorse for almost bleeding Ali dry, and no mercy left for the raven-haired girl who had caused it all. She was done with sanity. Done with rationalizing. In a blind heat of fury Victoria broke the cage she had been confined in falling to the surface of the water below. Her eyes were full of fire that could burn the soul. She ran full speed knowing exactly where she was going. If the world wanted to get rid of her, she'd make sure she'd leave it in ashes.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>(1)<strong> **I had originally planned to have a parallel Fullmetal Alchemist fic called It All Falls Apart that would explore Victoria's betrayal from their Bridge Builder Ali's perspective. I scrapped the idea because I honestly don't have the time to make another big fic like this in college, but I still wanted to emphasize the connection between Al and Naruto because Ed was intended to be Naruto's parallel. **

**(2) For those of you who aren't familiar with Full Metal Alchemist, Winry is one of the female protagonists in that series.**


	16. Undesired Outcome

Airi packed her things as Lori stared out of the window. It had only been a few hours since Lori had dropped the bomb about her alternative plan if Naruto had failed to remember The Gate. The Hokage had informed the others of Lori's "punishment." She had remained unaffected by the news saying she had expected as much. This wasn't a surprise since her grandfather had previous experience with the Guardians. Riyu, however, had been furious demanding why she had chosen to keep the information to herself. Airi frowned. His reaction was _exactly_ the reason Lori had kept it to herself. It was also the reason Airi hadn't revealed her knowledge of it long ago. They both were being punished enough without having to drag the others into it. She had watched in horror through her counterpart Ali's eyes as Victoria bled her out to get to this universe in the first place. The Gate's solution was a cruel and simple punishment. The universe was demanding the Keeper of the Gate of Darkness kill the Keeper of the Gate of Light in every dimension until there was nothing of her left, and Victoria was the last loose end. The visions and havoc and destruction she and her other counterparts were reaping was just an added bonus. Truth's subtle way of telling them they were taking too long. She remembered Lori's face when she had told her about the first dream. She's looked so haunted and ashamed. Airi knew Lori blamed herself for everything.

Speaking of her friend, she craned her neck trying to see where Lori was looking so intently. As she narrowed her eyes she could just barely make out the ruins of the Uchiha compound over the trees. "Have you been yet?" Lori shook her head no. She scooted over and Airi settled beside her friend watching the sun set in the distance. They sat in silence for a long time. "Sometimes I wonder how different everything would be if I had stayed away that night like Itachi told me too." Airi blinked at Lori's statement. "You never told me Itachi tried to send you away." Lori smiled. "I was always running away when I was little. I always thought my dad was stupid for trying to make me and Sasuke just like Itachi, so I'd get fed up with it all and go sleep in the park or something." **(1)** Airi chuckled remembering the snarky girl she had met in the slave camp. "Our feisty Fae. All sass and all bite." She teased. Lori pouted. "Hey, anyone I beat up in there deserved it." She said. "No argument there." Airi replied.

Lori sighed. "I'd had a fight with Sasuke that day. I thought Itachi was just being a good brother and telling me to stay away so he could cool off. I didn't want to leave it like that though. Next thing I know, I'm face down on the ground with a hole through my stomach and my vision going black." "How'd you get away?" Airi asked. "Tallah took over my body, healed me, and ran me away from there as fast as she could. I don't think she even knew where she was going." Airi poked the gem that had caused so much trouble laying on Lori's desk thinking about where they had all come from. She had been an orphan in the Land of Mists scavenging food because no one in her family wanted her. No one could afford to take in another mouth to feed under Gato's thumb. Lori broke the silence. "Maybe Yore wouldn't have died, and I wouldn't have to kill Victoria." She said making Airi blink in surprise. Lori leaned into her side sighing. "Airi?" she said.

"Hmmm?"

"Why am I so bad at listening?"

Airi snickered. She turned around so their backs were pressed against each other. "Because you're a stubborn poop head."

Lori was silent. "Huh." She said after a minute.

"What?" Airi sweat dropped hoping she hadn't overstepped some kind of boundary.

"I haven't heard Tallah laugh that much in a while." She said with a hint of a smile on her face.

Airi barked out a laugh. "That's cause she knows I'm right." Lori snickered staring back out the window again.

Airi let her have a moment before she became serious again. "There's no decision Lori." She said. "Either you kill her to set everything right or she kills you and throws everything into chaos. She has to die." Lori whipped around and stood up making Airi loose her balance and whack her head on the bench. Airi rubbed her head in annoyance. "Geez!" she said. "And you wonder why Riyu was gonna abandon you if we got caught." Lori glared at her frustrated. "How can you say that so easily?" she demanded.

"What? That you deserve to get your butt thrown in jail?" Airi said frustrated.

Lori balled her hands in fists. "Yore!" She practically yelled. "You can just sit there and condemn her like it's the simplest thing in the world."

Airi glared at Lori. "Because everyone else seems to understand the one thing you still can't get through your thick head. Yore is DEAD. YOU killed her. Victoria is nothing more than an echo from another dimension fighting the inevitable. You don't get to say you're sorry for killing her and make up. She doesn't exist anymore." Lori looked at her like she had just slapped her in the face. Airi sighed. "I know you feel guilty Lori, but you can't keep running away." She sighed exasperated as she watched her words sink into the raven-haired girl. "No matter what you want to believe, not every story has a happy ending." Airi left her friend in silence. There was no running out of time any more. They were already out of it.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up that morning feeling well rested. He frowned. As strange as it sounded he actually missed having Tallah in his head. <strong>"WOULD YOU HURRY UP YOU BAKA! YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE US LATE AGAIN!" <strong>Naruto winced at the sheer volume of the Kyuubi's voice. It was like he was making up for not being able to yell at him for a whole month. At this point he would've gladly taken Tallah's mind numbing maze back. **"DON'T YOU EVEN MENTION THAT ****ING DRAGON! I'LL BURN HER ALIVE NEXT TIME I SEE HER! I'LL…" **"SHUT UP FUR BALL!" Naruto yelled interrupting the beast's rant. "Geez! I thought the dragon Bijuu was the tailed beast's bodyguard or something." He said rubbing his head in annoyance. "Why do you have such a problem with her? I thought you'd at least like the other Bijuu." The fox scoffed. **"I don't like anyone." **He deadpanned. Naruto rolled his eyes and headed to the Hokage's office. Everyone was already there making him the late one again.

For the first time Naruto really looked at the people around him. Airi, who had carried Sakura to safety, surveyed everyone from her corner with worry. Ryu, who Naruto had yet to figure out, was being lectured by Sakura for not being able to read a map. Tia, who had threatened to kill him less than two weeks ago, twirled one of her blades around anxiously. Riyu, who seemed to be more at peace than he had since Naruto had met him, was propped up against the wall standing guard. Al, who had opened up to him, was making small talk with the Hokage. Finally Lori, the girl he had forgotten and remembered again, was quiet on the floor preparing to kill a copy of someone she had once cherished. They all looked different, but…he took in the homey atmosphere crowding the room. He looked at Lori who gave him a small smile. He waved and smiled. **"You know they won't stay." **Kyuubi told him. Naruto ignored him fighting the wave of sadness he suddenly felt. He became aware again when Sakura decided to give him a lecture about being punctual.

Shikamaru lazily led everyone from the room except him, Lori, and Airi. Naruto blinked glancing at Lori out of the corner of his eye. He had killed one or two people for the village before, but he was worried about how Lori seemed to be handling the task. "Alright!" Tsunade yelled grabbing his attention. "Move out, and you better all come back in one piece or I'll hunt every last one of you down myself!" she threatened. All three of them sweat dropped and did as she said. Naruto moved closer to Lori and Airi. "So what's the plan?" he asked. Lori looked ahead while she explained. "Once we enter Truth's realm you'll have to help me hold her down long enough for me to detach her guardian mark from her." Naruto furrowed his brows in confusion. "That'll kill her?" he asked. She nodded. "Think of it as a permanent brand that burns you away from the inside out if you remove it." Naruto shuddered. "That sounds horrible." He said. Lori nodded. "That's why the mark can only be removed by another guardian." Airi said solemnly.

Naruto was lost in thought for a moment. He could just hit Victoria with his Rasen-Shiriken, but if they needed to remove the mark to repair the threads this was going to be a lot harder. They couldn't remove her energy if she was already dead, and from what he had seen so far Victoria was going to be a hard person to hold down. "So how are we attacking her?" Airi answered that part of his question. "The plan is for me to hold the gate open so you two and Victoria can get inside Truth's realm." Naruto was confused. "I thought only me and Lori could open the gate." He said. Airi nodded. "Yes, but Lori's the Keeper of the Gate of Darkness. She can only hold it open long enough to get you inside. That's a one way trip without paying another price. As the Bridge Builder I can hold it open as long as you need. I just can't be the one who opened it in the first place."

Naruto shook his poor rattling brain. Their jobs were more confusing by the minute. Lori laughed at his disgruntled expression before getting serious again. "Getting Victoria inside the portal is the easy part." She said continuing where Airi left off. "She won't want to go inside because she's looking for an easy kill outside of the portal, but it won't be too hard for Airi to drive her in there. The hard part begins once we're inside Truth's realm. The Gate isn't picky. It'll take either one of us as a price. Whoever looses their mark first is fair game. Basic tag team tactics will be to our advantage since she just uses her scythe as a main weapon. Try to aim any attacks you can at her back. She'll be wide open there depending on what attack she ends up using." Naruto nodded. It sounded simple enough. "Don't underestimate her though." said Airi. "If I've analyzed Ali's memories correctly Victoria has a military background in her world, so she's just as good at hand to hand combat." **(2)**Naruto let out a frustrated breath. This was gonna be a pain if she was good at long and short range attacks. He looked at Lori and noticed her thoughtful expression. "You gonna be ok?" he asked her.

Lori smirked at him. "I'm an Uchiha. I'm always ok."

Naruto stared at her. "Liar." He said making her laugh.

"Have you even killed before? Aside from Yore I mean."

Lori blinked in surprise. "I've killed shadows before," she said. "But this is the first time we've been ordered to kill a person."

"What's a shadow?" Naruto questioned curiously.

Lori furrowed her brow thinking. "They're hard to describe." She said. "They're like ripples from the gate. They appear when an event takes place that isn't supposed to. It mostly happens around here when people try harnessing forbidden jutsu techniques." Naruto grinned. "Guess Orochimaru gave you guys one heck of a work order." She smirked at the joke. Airi didn't look amused. "Sometimes shadows can come from other universes too. Those are usually because of some big event that makes them bleed into other doors. They can even possess things if they're big enough. That's what happened to the Bijuu." Naruto recalled the story Airi had told him about how the Sage of Six Paths had bargained with Truth for the ability to separate and seal away the beasts. Speaking of Airi, he was surprised to see her moving ahead. He took the opportunity to question his friend.

Naruto studied Lori's face. "So when are you gonna stop lying about how you are?" he said after a minute. Lori smiled wryly. "You want to hear a story? All the village kids love it." she said. Naruto frowned. This wasn't really the time for stories. Before he could answer though, she had started her tale. "Once upon a time a dark wizard kidnapped a princess and locked her away in an underground prison never to see the light of day again. Instead of taking action like she should've, the princess remembered all the horrible things that happened to her kingdom and thought it better to stay where she was. She thought if she ran away long enough the prince, her one and only best friend, would eventually come find her." Naruto's face flushed at that. Lori smirked and continued.

"So the princess waited. Over time, without realizing it, she made friends with many knights that were imprisoned with her. Then, something horrible happened to her most trusted knight, something that was her fault. So, her trusted knight became her fallen knight and she ran away ashamed of her actions. Though she and the rest of the knights were free from the prison, she left them all to run to her kingdom and seek shelter with her friend the prince hoping he would save her from her despair. When she found him she was happy, and for a moment the prince had indeed saved her." Lori smiled. "This is where I usually end it for the kids, but I'll tell you the rest." she said making Naruto narrow his eyes at her. "The princess's fairytale ending wasn't meant to last." Lori continued completely engrossed in her tale. "For you see, a witch seeking revenge for the fallen knight stole the prince's mind for her kingdom's evil counsel leaving the princess alone again save the dragon knight who never left her side. Having no choice, she and the dragon knight returned to the others. The princess traveled with the knights and sought a master who could help her get stronger so she could correct the mistakes she had made. When she was strong enough she set out to collect a treasure that would help her and the prince defeat the witch."

"However, the treasure came with the price of death without the prince's mind to lend her aid. So the dragon knight, having known about the treasure beforehand, arranged a way to retrieve the prince's lost mind. Knowing the alternate price, the princess led the rest of the knights through the shadows hoping to fix her mistakes without involving them. However, in leaving them in the dark she had separated herself from the knights once more. In despair the princess realized her act of what she thought was kindness had only broken more things instead of fixing them. She sank into sadness wishing for things that couldn't be, and openly sought the price that came with using the treasure alone." Naruto frowned at his friend trying to motion for her to stop. She didn't have to tell him this. Lori smiled at his gesture, but contined.

"When the dragon knight succeeded in helping the prince recover his mind, the princess was overjoyed. She realized that she had never really wanted to use the treasure alone, and was happy that her prince would be able to save her once more. However, as the day she would face the witch got closer she sank into severe despair once more. For you see, the witch was a replica of her knight that had fallen so long ago, and she had no wish to kill her. She wished for the prince to save her again, but after reflecting on her own selfishness the princess realized all the time she had spent pursuing the treasure she had only been running away. That's when she realized the Truth. By leaving the dark wizard's prison all those years ago the princess had only succeeded in making another by her own hand." She looked at Naruto cocking her head and smiling. "And no one can save me from myself now can they?" **(3)**

Naruto looked down not able to meet the girl's eyes. Before he could respond a voice boomed from behind them. "Still telling pointless stories girl?"Airi had doubled back and glared at the source of the voice. Naruto and Lori turned around putting themselves into battle mode. Victoria was perched on the tree behind then laughing. "C'mon now Lori! We all know this story ends with death" she crowed. "And believe me I aim to survive!" she yelled slamming her scythe downward. Lori jumped backwards and Airi locked her kunai with the girl making sparks fly. Victoria chuckled managing to hold her own. "Now now." She said. "Don't worry. I'll finish the story for her properly after she's dead!" Looking around she dodged Naruto who had tried to drive his regular Rasengan through her back. Meanwhile Lori fished around in her bag for the Gem of Aatos. "Naruto!" she yelled once she pulled it out. Victoria whipped her head around. She began to run at Lori, but was stopped again by Airi who had somehow managed to skid between the girl's legs and stab her in the thigh. Victoria turned on her trying to swipe her torso.

Naruto ran over to Lori. "What do we do?" he asked frantically. Lori pointed to the tree that was close to them. "We're going to stab it into this tree trunk then I'm going to feed my chakra into so it'll activate. When that's done you'll pool your chakra together with mine and reach out to the gate." Naruto paled a little. "How will I know what to look for?" "You don't have to worry about that. Since you have your memories back your mind will know automatically!" Naruto was uneasy, but he trusted her. Lori raised the gem over her head, and drove it into the tree trunk. He watched her as she pulled her chakra into the gem and it flashed violently. "Naruto now!" she yelled at him. As Naruto pooled his chakra into the gem with her he could see what she mean. It was like the information was literally attached to him and he had never even known it. With that knowledge he realized something else as well. Something the Kyuubi had been hiding from him. Something that had been left out of the story Airi had told him. "I never needed my memories did I?" he asked the Kyuubi. **"No. They've all been fools since the very beginning. Pawns for Truths lesson." **He answered simply. Naruto absorbed this new information as he reached with his chakra for the Gate. Lori was right again. He knew automatically when he had hit the point he needed to. "Now what?!" he yelled over the roar of the Gate. "Rip it open!" Lori yelled back. "Don't let up!" He didn't. He grabbed the point and stretched it open with all his might. The next thing he knew a hole had appeared in front of them almost like a rift in time. There was a sudden bright flash and when he blinked they were in Truth's realm staring at his creepy grin.

* * *

><p>Victoria growled in frustration trying to attack the blonde before he could help Lori. The Bridge Builder got in her way though. That leg shot had hurt. She tried to hack the girl in half, but she was too quick. They jumped and dodged around each other like that for awhile. She gripped her scythe angrily. She couldn't let them open the gate, but she couldn't get past Ali either! Wait not Ali! Airi! Blood pooled her vision again. She blinked in surprise when she saw blood drenching the Airi's neck. What the…? She shook her head at the image. When she looked back up she barely had time to dodge the girl's shuriken before it cut off her arm. "What's the matter?" The girl in front of her taunted. There was no longer any blood on her neck. Victoria growled in frustration. This girl wasn't Ali. She had no reason to regard her that way. She had shed he remorse! She did not feel guilty! "Move out of my way!" she roared at the girl aiming for her head. She faltered when another image came over her. She saw Ali reaching toward her. <em>"Vicky please! You don't have to do this!"<em> She tried unsuccessfully to shake off the image again and Airi landed a solid kick in her abdomen launching her into a tree.

Her eyes widened in rage when she looked up and realized Lori and Naruto had ripped open the door to Truth's realm. She cursed. She got up grabbing her scythe prepared to run, but before she realized what was happening Airi grabbed her by her left arm and threw her into the open portal. She could see the girl rush behind her so she could keep it open. Victoria closed her eyes to shield them from the bright flash of the portal. She landed roughly on her back, and opened her eyes stunned. She was stuck in Truth's realm with the brats. "Well ****." She said out loud.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) I took a lot of liberties with this chapter since the story is coming to a close. I originally explained Lori's p.o.v. of the Uchiha massacre in a side fic called How Did We Meet Again? that I deleted. I thought some of the details were important to Lori's overall perspective of self at this point so I went ahead and added the scene with her and Airi. <strong>

**(2) In the spin off story "It All Falls Apart" that I had originally planned to write for this Victoria's backstory was that she was a part of a military regiment alongside Cornel Mustang's sister, an OC I had planned to be Lori's counterpart in the FMAB universe, that was falsely killed and used for experiments with the philosophers stones. The aim was to make them that world's equivalent of super soldiers. Since I scrapped that story because it would end up being another long one, I decided I didn't need to include that part of her past here because the super strength and speed would not stand out in the Naruto verse to begin with. **

**(3) This whole mini-story was inspired by the character Fred from Joss Whedon's series Angel. The character had been lost in a hell dimension for several years and regarded Angel as her knight in shining armor. After struggling for weeks to get herself used to being on Earth again, she tells Angel a fairytale version of her story and explains through it that though she regarded him as her white knight, she realizes she can't depend on him to save her from reality. I liked their relationship in the show because even though she did have a tiny thing for him at first, the relationship became one that was completely platonic. This is how I intended the relationship between Lori and Naruto to be. They both love and think highly of each other, but in a completely platonic way. **


	17. Final Confrontations

**I will just say as a forward that I'm not the best in the world at fight scenes so have mercy on me please. I also wanted to note that Lori doesn't use the Sharingan at all because she did not have the training Sasuke did. Any lightening attacks she uses don't require the Sharingan. Since she was trained away from the village it made no sense to me for her to have the same training unless it was the fire training that Fugaku, Sasuke's father, showed them when they were little.**

* * *

><p>Truth's hearty laugh made all three of the ninja's skin crawl. Victoria begrudgingly stood up and faced him with the other two. "<em><strong>So the living and the dead have come to play in my dimension.<strong>_" He said amused. She let out a menacing growl while the other two just tensed. Truth grinned even wider. "_**Finally. I was wondering when you'd get tired of all the overlapping visions and memories I was sending you.**_" "You asshole!" Victoria yelled at him while the guardian in front of her squirmed. So he was the one responsible for all those stupid visions! "How dare you try to guilt trip me with those stupid visions! I regret nothing!" She yelled. Truth laughed at her. "_**Oh you all regret something. You all want something otherwise no one would ever come to my realm.**_" Naruto frowned at the creature in disgust. "Yeah. Yeah. We're in your stupid realm now let us get on with this stupid fight!" Truth chuckled at him. "_**My. My. You're as bold as ever.**_" Victoria growled as his sightless gaze trained on her and Lori. "You two already know what needs to be done so do stop wasting everyone's time and get on with it." he said menacingly backing away from the trio until he completely disappeared.

Without giving the two idiots time to react to his creepy exit, Victoria let out cry of rage trying to slice them both in half. They both jumped out of the way. They ended up on opposite sides, so Victoria went right and rammed Lori with the staff part of her scythe. She felt the girl shudder under the weight of the impact as she barely blocked it with her two Sai. Victoria tried to slide her blade across them so she could cut the girl that way instead. She let out a frustrated huff when only the end of the blade nicked Lori's arm as she jumped away from her. Naruto surprised her from behind with a kunai. He unfortunately managed to land a blow to her spine knocking her forward. Ignoring the pain, she did a forward hand spring. When she was upside down she used her free hand to throw a kunai at him nicking him in the face as he dodged it sideways. She landed on the ground thinking she was safe at this distance only to have Lori sweep her feet out from under her. Victoria landed on her back her scythe falling from her hands and sliding away from her. She barely dodged Lori's lightning blade as she drove her hand in the ground where her shoulder had just been. She looked at the black-haired girl's expression in surprise. The girl was actually making an effort to kill her. That was a first. Suddenly in the girl's place she could see Laura, her counterpart in Victoria's realm, after she had killed a close friend who had been a spy. _"Sometimes a person crosses a line and leaves you no choice but to kill." _Victoria shook her head getting rid of the vision. She dodged Naruto who had ended up behind her again. This time he had tried Rasengan. Victoria didn't have time to counterattack before Lori's oncoming lightning blade would hit her. So, she rolled to the ground roughly and clapped her hands together slamming them on the ground. **(1)** A lightening pillar shot up from the ground forcing Lori to pull back her attack and giving her time to get her scythe. She narrowed her eyes. She was going to have to step up her game.

Looking out of the corner of her eye she saw the blonde's attack coming this time ramming the back of the scythe into his sternum. She then turned around and hit the blonde in the middle of the torso with the scythe's stem. He was knocked away several feet so she could focus on Lori. They had the advantage tag teaming on her right now, but if she could just keep her at bay long enough…She blocked the Sai she threw her way. Lori rushed her successfully nicking her face over the scythe. Victoria launched the girl backward and jumped several feet away from her. She looked over at Naruto. She jumped just in time to dodge yet another attack from behind. They were obviously trying to hit her weak point in her back to limit her use with the scythe. She scooted farther away refusing to let either of them out of her sight for now.

As they both rushed, one with Rasengan and the other with a lightning ball she had no interest in experiencing, she saw her moment. Faster than either of them could keep track of she grabbed Naruto's arm throwing him at Lori. Knowing he wasn't able to turn off the attack at that stage Lori bent backward turning off her lightening ball and dodging his Ransengan. Victoria attached her scythe to her back slamming her knee into Lori's stomach as she came back up. Lori grunted doubling over. Knowing the blonde would recover quickly Victoria did a bunch of hand signs very quickly then slapped her hands together and slammed them on the ground. She grinned as the blonde was surrounded by a purple ring and incased in rock hard ice. The same attack Lori had used on her at the Kage Summit.

Before she had time to celebrate though, Lori was up again. Her eyes widened in surprise when the girl made the sign for a fireball jutsu. She high tailed it out of the way as fast as she could. She grimaced as her ankles got a little singed. She ran around the girl and drove her elbow into her shoulder blade. Lori gave a yelp of pain rolling away from her. Victoria grinned in triumph. Unfortunately, she had forgotten one tiny detail about this universe's Keeper of the Gate of Darkness. The Key Keeper came was a package deal. She cursed as Tallah's chakra swirled around the girl. Lori's skin peeled with the brunt of the chakra making her look a little bit more terrifying than before. At least she only had her to deal with. Naruto wasn't getting out of those binds anytime soon.

Lori rushed her faster this time successfully stabbing a Sai through her arm. She winced jumping away from the girl before she could grab her neck. Victoria watched her move as she did her best to just dodge the girl's attacks. She narrowed her eyes. She had more strength and chakra like this, but Lori refused to use the Sharingan out respect for her counterpart's death. She couldn't help but wonder if Laura would've done the same for her if she had died. She shook her head of those thoughts. She did not feel guilty. She did not feel guilty. The girl in front of her was weak for not using all her assets because of sentimentality. She clapped her hands together and sent a current of lightening through the ground to deter the girl. Lori stopped short of the lightening stream narrowing her now slitted, red eyes at her. Victoria eyed her warily. Even without that asset Tallah wasn't like the other Bijuu. She didn't just lend her chakra to her hosts. She almost went as far as merging with them. The scaly pattern on the girl's arms was a testament to this. She had to find a way past their defense.

She had to move quickly though. She cursed again as she dodged the twin pillars of fire Lori had just launched from her arms. She'd have to use her ninja tools. Then she could get to her scythe. Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Her scythe. Knowing the girl would think she was going for her weapon Victoria rushed at it. As expected Lori saw it and rushed after her with her Sai. Victoria grinned as she caught the dragon by surprise by knocking the Sai out of her hand with her leg. Thinking she had her, Victoria was surprised when the girl grabbed her leg, pulled her forward, and wrapped her hand around her neck. Victoria cursed. Lori slammed her into the ground the back of her head hitting it hard. She gasped as her vision blurred. Victoria trembled in the other girls grasp not able to move enough to escape. To her surprise though, she wasn't dead yet. Her vision cleared enough up enough for her to gawk as Tallah's chakra disappeared. As she looked at Lori's eyes though, she realized why and grinned. She couldn't kill her. She still saw the other one. Yore. Why did that make her so sad? Without wanting to she saw the scene in front of her blur. She saw a younger Lori and the horror across her face as she felt the sword imbed itself into her abdomen.

Victoria shook her head with a growl. She deserved this! Victoria knocked the girl's hand off her throat and before she could do anything about it she kneed the girl in the ribs. Lori coughed up blood as Victoria felt the blow crack a few of the girl's ribs. To add insult to injury Victoria kicked the girl in the stomach making her roll onto her back. As the girl rolled over Victoria grinned because it was obvious. She had won, and there was nothing else Lori or her Bijuu could do about it.

* * *

><p>Lori panted there on the ground. Her skin was burning where Tallah's chakra had peeled pieces away. She was pretty sure Victoria had broken a few ribs. She clenched her fists in frustration. Now was not the time to lay still. She grimaced as the girl kicked her in the stomach. She couldn't make herself stand. She looked at Victoria and frowned. She was grinning ear to ear waiting for her. She didn't need to attack Lori anymore. She knew she was winning. The only thing Lori couldn't figure out was why she hadn't made her move yet. Frustrated, Lori tried to stand but failed. Victoria's smile disappeared giving her a frustrated look she didn't quite understand. "You're giving up?" She asked. All trace of malice was gone from her voice. Lori looked at her foe's face. The traces of insanity that had dominated her body only a few moments ago were gone. Her eyes, those eyes that had been fueled by hate only moments ago were dead.<p>

The girl in front of her had raved about ending her life as punishment. Yet here Lori was defeated on the ground, and she looked completely empty. "You're pathetic." Victoria said simply. Lori didn't know why, but it was in that moment she truly saw through the lie she didn't even realize she had accepted for so long. The words Airi had said to her in that room truly sank in. Her counterpart or not, the girl in front of her wasn't Yore. Yore was dead, and no matter what she did to try to make that right nothing would change. She would still be dead and it would still be her fault.

Victoria and Naruto both gaped in surprise when a massive grin lit up the girls face and she laughed. She laughed louder and longer than she had in a long time. "You know what?" she said to the girl in front of her. "You're right." Victoria blinked in surprise her grip tightening around her scythe. Lori just laughed more. "I am an absolute freaking idiot." Lori stood shakily steadying herself enough to walk around. "Y'know," she said looking at Victoria. "I don't really care if you hate me or not. I'm gonna tell you a story, and you're gonna listen." Victoria raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" she said following the raven's every move with her eyes. Lori walked around retrieving her Sai as Tallah felt worriedly at the girl's subconscious. "Before I came here to face you," she said. "I asked Airi something. Y'know the bridge builder of this dimension who, if I'm not mistaken, looks exactly like the bridge builder you almost bled dry to get here." Naruto's eyes widened inside the glass casing he was still trying to get out of. Victoria gave a low growl. Lori scoffed at her. "Anyway, I asked her how different she thought my life would be if had stayed away from the compound that night. Oh yeah Naruto did I ever tell you Itachi actually asked me to stay with you that night. The one night no one actually cared if I stayed at a guy's house." She laughed when Naruto blushed violently out of embarrassment. "Well in response to this heartwarming explanation as to how all of this could've been avoided, she basically told me I needed to focus on the now and stop running. I was angry at first, but it made me realize something." Victoria got into her fighting stance watching Lori pause in front of her. "I've spent all this time feeling sorry for myself. Punishing myself because I thought I would get some kind of redemption for what I did to Yore. And you know what? Standing here in front of the women who slit her best friends throat open so she could live, the only one I feel sorry for is you." Victoria tensed her eyes widening in anger.

Lori, feeling more energized than she had in a while grinned a maniacal grin that put Naruto to shame. "You know what else?" she said. Tallah grew excited knowing exactly what the girl was doing and more than willing to help. For the first time in two years she and Tallah completely combined their chakra. Her red chakra swirled around Lori. Her eyes turned red again and the animal eyes overlapped with her Sharingan. Her teeth sharpened showing the beast trapped within her and the ground around her shook with the force she was emitting. Tallah's chakra blew Victoria back a couple of feet. Before the girl even had a chance to right herself Lori had both her Sai at the girl's throat. "I've gone over the night Yore died a thousand times and nothing I did would've changed a thing." Victoria kicked her in the stomach making Lori loose her grip. Naruto, energized by Tallah's blast of chakra, finally broke free of the ice prison. He was about to rush to help, but was surprisingly stopped by the fox. **"Stay where you are baka. This is their fight now. Don't dishonor that."** Naruto, listening for once watched as Lori and Victoria fought. Their movements were so fast now that they were almost a blur.

* * *

><p>Victoria couldn't tell if she was panicking or just plain pissed at this point. Anything she threw at Lori was being countered. Victoria pulled back for a blow in what she thought was the girl's blind spot, but Lori dodged the girl kicking her right in her chin. "Did Ali promise to keep you alive?" Victoria struggled to her feet holding her scythe. The dragon girl was giving her a run for her money. Her eye was swollen, her hair had come out of her braid, and her elbow and lip were both busted. Lori didn't look that great either, but she had a feeling she was getting the short side of the stick right now. She dropped her scythe to the ground and just charged aiming her lightning at the girl's side. Lori deflected it and dragged the girl across the ground throwing her to the side. "Is that why you hurt them?" Lori taunted her. "Shut up." Victoria said wiping her lip. She could see Naruto watching them in the background. Why wasn't he helping anymore? She faked behind Lori and tried to drive her hand through her back. Lori side stepped and cracked the girl's arm with her elbow. **** that hurt. Didn't matter.<p>

"Did she hate you when you betrayed them?"

Fist to chest blocked. New bruise.

"Did you get angry when you realized they couldn't help you?"

"You don't know anything." Kick to sternum blocked. One of her Sai was stuck in Victoria's thigh. I don't feel guilty.

"But that was never it at all was it? You've just been lying to yourself too."

Victoria could still see Naruto watching in stunned silence. He was an idiot. Ali was an idiot too. Victoria's vision blurred. She could no longer see the girl in front of her. She could only see Ali. Ali, the girl who had failed to find a way to keep her alive. Ali, the friend who was never angry no matter what she did. Ali, the sister who only cried when she had cut her neck open, forcing the girl to open the portal to her salvation. She hated them, all of them, every one of them who had dared call her family…. but she hated herself more.

Snapping, Victoria gave an inhuman cry. She grabbed her scythe aiming to slice whatever apparition was in front of her in half. Lori grabbed her arms roughly and shot her leg out at the girl's knees. Victoria's legs buckled as the girl shattered her right knee cap. Lori stared at her turning off her Bijuu mode. Without a word she picked up the girl's scythe and broke it in half. Victoria's eyes widened. She glared at the girl angrily. She tried to punch her only for the girl to roughly catch her fist in her hand. "I…don't…feel…guilty…" she protested weakly. Lori just stared at her sadly. "Tell the truth." She said. Victoria looked down and for the first time in a long time she cried. Naruto walked a little closer, but stopped when she looked up angrily. "It's not fair!" she yelled. "I shouldn't have to die! It's all your fault! I didn't do anything wrong!" However, the image of Ali played in her mind again and she whimpered at the pain coursing through the girl's face. "You're right." Lori said making both Victoria and Naruto look at her in surprise. Her voice had changed. Looking at the girl's eyes she quickly realized Tallah had taken over speaking. "This is wrong, and you shouldn't have to die. It's not fair, but no one ever said the universe was fair." Tallah/Lori bent down looking her straight in the eyes. "You were always going to die. Whether or not Lori and I were there changes nothing. If Yore hadn't died in the mines, Saya would've died from her illness earlier **(2)**, Hitomi would've died in battle, and you would've died from your organs failing due to all the experiments the government alchemically performed on your body. Truth knew it, I know it, your other counterparts knew it, and you know it too. You always have."

Victoria felt the tears flowing down her face. "I just wanted to live." She said quietly. Was that so wrong? Naruto looked at her sadly like she was broken. Then again in a way she was broken. She had been for a long time. Somebody had to die. Somebody always had to die. Saya died for her clone, Hitomi died for her pleasure, Yore died for the Jinchuriki, and now she got to die for the universe. Victoria stared at her hands. She felt a hand touch her on her arm over her mark. She looked at the dragon girl's face realizing Tallah had switched with Lori. She expected to find anger and determination in her gaze. To her dismay, all she saw was remorse.

She laughed at the girl's face the tears abruptly drying. "Y'know what? I'm as guilty as hell." She told her. "Don't you pity me. Don't you dare." She said, her voice cracking slightly. Naruto was silent moving towards her as if he thought he could help. The idiot even looked like he was about to cry. She looked back at the girl in front of her. Reality was blurring again. Lori wasn't there anymore, but it wasn't Ali this time either. This time it was Laura giving her that sad stern look she usually did when something was wrong. She gripped her arm hard digging her fingernails into the Victoria's mark. "I'm so sorry." She said. Victoria blinked more tears out of her eye. Reality had completely escaped her. In the end though, that didn't really matter. Her sister was there, and everything was going to be ok. "Laura," she chocked out at the image before her. "Why can't I stay?" The girl in front of her cried silently and gripped her hand over her mark. Victoria only had a few seconds to brace herself before she ripped through the rose marking burning her essence from the inside out. She knew pain. Then warmth. Then nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>(1) Just in case this wasn't understood, the guardians don't have to use the symbols for alchemy because they work with Truth on a daily basis. Being a marked a Guardian means they have seen the truth like Ed and Al did because devoting their lives to keeping the universe in balance is their price.<strong>

**(2) In the Blazeblue game Saya was described as being very sickly as a child.**

**Victoria's death was really hard to write. I knew from the beginning she was going to die, but my struggle was who she was going to be at the end. I intended for the character to be a villain, but I wanted it to become apparent that she wasn't devoid of emotion. I ended up writing her to be a parallel to Lori. Lori was overridden by guilt over Yore's death. This guilt warped her into taking actions based on despair rather than love even though good intentions were her aim. Victoria, on the other hand, was also corrupted by the guilt of succumbing to the darker aspect of her will to live. Her guilt over hurting the closest people she had to family took the opposite effect. It warped her into taking actions based out of anger, and ironically her desire to run away from the guilt she was denying. I originally wrote a sappy death for her because she originally wasn't a horrible person and I wanted that to stand out, but I realized even though she was capable of remorse she was too far gone in her madness in the end to actually feel remorse towards Naruto or Lori. So, I opted for Laura, Lori's parallel in the FMA verse, and ended it with "Why can't I stay?" This is another inspiration I took from the character Fred in Angel. It may seem cruel to end her with that question, but sometimes bad things happen to good people and there isn't an answer to why. In the end, that's just what stuck to me. **


	18. Endings

Naruto lay in his bed silently. He was still reeling from the battle. He couldn't believe it had only been a week. Victoria was gone. There was no bloody mess. No cry of agony left to linger in their ears. She was just gone. She had dissolved into thin air like she had never been there to begin with. Truth hadn't said much to Naruto's surprise. He hadn't even given them that creepy grin he always seemed to wear. He'd just zeroed in on Lori who had still been crouching down grabbing the arm that was no longer there. All he said to her was, "_**Lori, leave my realm with your fox friend. I have other work to do here.**_" She didn't respond verbally. She just got up grabbed him and pulled him out the door with her. The last thing he heard Truth say was, "_**I sincerely hope I never see either of you again.**_" He'd asked if she was ok. He didn't think she was answer him, but she said "I thought maybe when she was dead I'd get some kind of closure, but nothing's changed. She's just gone."

It was in that moment that Naruto had realized Sakura had been right. Lori wasn't the little girl he had made a promise to be best friends forever with anymore, and despite what she thought everything had changed. "**Are you going to tell her?**" the Kyuubi asked interrupting his trip down memory lane. What Kyuubi had told him played over again in his mind. _"I never needed my memories to help her did I?" "__**No. They were all fools from the beginning."**_ Naruto smiled sadly."I'll tell her someday, but not now." he told Kyuubi. He thought about Lori's sad smiles though they were gradually improving as the days went on. He closed his eyes. "Not now."Kyuubi was for once silent, but he didn't need a response.

* * *

><p>Lori smiled at Riyu and Naruto. They had gotten into a fight about who would win in a fight between an octopus and a squid. It was hilarious to see Naruto's yelling try to overpower Riyu's logic. Ryu was chatting with Shikamaru, and apparently was getting good advice on strategy from the prodigy. They had all decided to go out to eat after the meeting with the Hokage. It had been three weeks now since the fight and the world seemed to begin forgetting Victoria and Yore simultaneously. After all, it's foolish to hope to world just stops when someone dies. She smiled sadly accepting the ripple effect of her actions. She gave a real smile as Tia smacked Ryu in the back of the head for forgetting to purchase a map to Sunagakure. Tallah flickered at the edges of her mind. <strong>"Are you going to tell him?"<strong> She looked at her childhood friend who was still arguing with her…um…teammate. "No." she said calmly. She stood up saying goodbye to everyone and surprising Naruto by hugging him around the neck. He laughed motioning at Riyu's clearly annoyed face. Lori rolled her eyes, and waved goodbye.

She stared at the sky not really acknowledging where she was going. **"After two long years it's finally over." **Tallah said a hint of sadness in her tone. Lori laughed. "Did you want the universe to collapse?" She sweat dropped when Tallah didn't answer. "Um Tallah?" The winged Bijuu busted out laughing letting Lori know she was kidding. "Geez don't do that to me." she said letting out the breath she'd been holding. Tallah just kept laughing, and then abruptly stopped when she realized where Lori was. **"Tell me a story." **She said seeming to stare at the red and white fan symbol just as hard as Lori was. Lori thought about it. "Once upon a time there was this girl who kept running away from her problems." She said reaching out to touch the symbol. "Unfortunately, you can't run away forever, and her problems soon caught up with her and overwhelmed her." She traced the lines lovingly and frowned. "She tried to make herself solve the problems, but in her haste and fear only succeeded in making more." She dropped her hand. "What she soon realized though, was the problems weren't becoming more problems. They were the same ones, and with time had taken on new forms just like people. The same was true for the solutions. They may have a new face but they're still the same, and they work just as well as they did before. You need only change your outlook." She gazed around the Uchiha compound's ruins and smiled. "How was that?" she asked Tallah. **"Your delivery needs a little work." **She joked. Lori smiled. "Can you help me find him?" The dragon scoffed. "**You should know better than to question my ability at this point."**

To her surprise they didn't have to look far to find her brother. There he was as clear as day sitting on the edge of Madara's statue at the Valley of the End. It had turned really cloudy setting a gloomy mood. She sighed. Maybe it wasn't too late to turn around. Tallah flickered at her mind disapprovingly. Lori bit her lip. Right. No more running away. Same problems. New ways of facing them. She landed softly on the statue noticing Sasuke tense at the presence of her chakra. Lori winced recognizing what the bandages over his eyes meant. "Who's there?" Sasuke demanded drawing his weapon. Oh well, too late to turn back now. "Hey Ni-chan." She said staying at a close enough distance where he could still hear her, but not strike her. **(1)**

Sasuke's mouth gaped open his hand clenching his sword hilt tightly. "This is a trick." He said in a threatening tone. Lori shook her head even though she realized he couldn't see it. "You know it's not." She said smiling. "You recognize my chakra. You recognized it when you were fighting Danzo too." Sasuke, showing emotion for the first time in what she guessed was awhile, put down his sword in shock. Lori moved forward carefully until she was crouched down in front of him. Not really knowing what to do she gathered him in hug and was shocked when he actually reciprocated it. He hadn't hugged since they had gotten in the academy. Maybe there was hope for him after all. "How?" he said still in slight shock. Lori laughed. "It's a long story."

She told him the whole thing too. She detailed from the moment Itachi had murdered her clan and stopped shortly after entertaining him with tales of her training with Reika. He had been surprised to hear about her housing a Bijuu, but he didn't pry and she was grateful for that. She left out everything having to do with the Guardians including Naruto and Victoria. She didn't want to knit anymore people into that yarn. She simply told him Danzo had banished her with a price on her head and she had been wandering with her friends from Orochimaru's camp as a traveler for hire. She'd heard about the bounty on his head, and decided to come out of hiding. Surprisingly he listened to the whole thing. He had a scowl on his face when he was done. "**** Danzo and Orochimaru." He said. "I don't regret killing them for a second."

Lori grimaced picturing Victoria's face when she killed her. She gathered her knees up to her chest uncomfortably. The feelings were still fresh after the three weeks. "Did you like how it felt?" She asked seeking some level of comfort. "Killing the man who wanted my body and the man who ordered our clans massacre by our brother's hand? Of course!" Not exactly the comfort she had in mind. She flexed her hands in front of her suddenly remembering how many people her brother had already killed. "Destroying a life." She said clarifying her statement. Sasuke paused seeming to realize the intensity of the conversation. "They're not the only people I've killed." He said roughly. Lori smiled sadly. Killing was a ninja's job in a way, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "No I suppose not." She responded.

Sasuke tilted his head at her reassessing her tone. "You killed someone." It wasn't a question. "Twice. One was an accident." She said. "The other?" he questioned. "It was for a mission." She responded resting her chin on her knees. Neither of them seemed to know what to do for awhile so they sat in silence. "I saw Itachi about a year ago." Sasuke tilted his head absorbing the information. He took the statement as an accusation. "You know why I killed him." He said defending himself. "But…" he faltered a little. She finished for him knowing what he was getting at. "And why you want to attack the Leaf." Sasuke balked at this actually turning his head to face her. He had been looking ahead the majority of the time she had been talking. "Danzo told me when I first came back." She explained. "I guess Madara told you." Sasuke nodded in a detached manner. Lori smiled sadly remembering Itachi's face when he had captured her. _"I forgive you." _She had told him. He was so surprised he had let her escape right then and there. "I couldn't hate him you know." She told Sasuke. "I tried, but it never worked."** (2)**

Sasuke, who had been silent for awhile, finally spoke up. "Why are you here?" he asked as if he had just realized she wasn't staying. She pondered her response for a moment. "To say goodbye I guess." She finally said. "I leave for Suna tomorrow morning. I caused a bit of a mess in a lot of places." Sasuke gave his tale tell smirk she remembered so well from when they were kids. "You hate goodbyes." He said. "And sad endings." She reminded him playfully. "I remember." He said so softly she almost didn't hear him. His demeanor changed though. His tone dropped a little showing the tiniest bit of frustration. "You don't support me." he accused her. "No." she said without hesitation. "Will you support them?" he pressed angrily. Lori thought about it. Her team was a neutral party so she could or couldn't fight with the leaf if she wanted to. "We'll see." She said after a minute.

Sasuke deflated a little. He was still tense, but not as angry. "If you fight with them you're my enemy." He said. Lori blinked. If she didn't know her brother better she would've said he sounded like he was almost begging her. "I know." She said hating that she was leaving him alone again. She closed her eyes. She knew he wouldn't stop his vendetta until he was satisfied though. That's just how her brother was. "Forgive me." he said startling her out of her reverie. "For what?" she asked in surprise. He usually only asked forgiveness when their mother forced him to. "For never looking for you." He said. Lori didn't really know how to respond to that. She could tell him the obvious: That it wasn't his fault. That there was no way he could've known she was alive. Instead she remembered one time when they were little and he had accidentally left her at the academy. She had been angry, but forgave him as soon he ran out of the house and apologized to her promising her he would never forget her again. She had been angry in the mines when she realized no one was coming for her. Yet here her brother was asking her forgiveness. "I always did." She said softly.

Sasuke seemed to relax and they fell into silence again. After awhile he angled his head toward the sky. "It's going to rain." He said. Lori nodded. After a moment she tensed as she felt Madara's chakra snaking toward them through his creepy dimension. She could only handle so many things in one evening. Madara was not one of them. She stood slowly brushing off her pants. Sasuke shifted at the movement. "He meant what he said to you by the way." She said after a moment of contemplation. He hadn't indicated a desire to stab her yet so she didn't see the harm. "Who?" he said. His eyes seemed to narrow behind the badges. "Naruto." She said without skipping a beat. He tensed up and tried, successfully, to glare at her through the bandages. "I didn't ask." He angrily declared. She smiled unaffected by his tone. "You didn't have to."

She angled her head to the side feeling Madara's chakra getting close. Sasuke sat up and rested his arm on his knees knowing she was leaving. "I hope I don't see you again." he said after a moment. Lori looked at her brother wishing they had more time, but knowing she had to move on. "Likewise." She responded not really meaning it. "I thought you hated sad endings." He smirked lightening the departure a little for her. She smiled appreciating the effort. "I'm trying this new thing called not running away from my problems." She was surprised as a slow smile climbed its way across his face in place of the trademark smirk. "Run as fast as you can." He said. Lori blinked in surprise, but shook it off smiling instead. She didn't say goodbye. She just left, smiling all the way back to the leaf village. She had found her closure.

* * *

><p>Naruto smiled as he entered the hotel Lori was staying at. It had been four weeks. He had a lot of fun things they could do today before the group left. Besides, the Hokage had officially declared her as a citizen of the leaf once more. That was reason enough to celebrate. It was going to be awesome. They might even let her be an Anbu when she got back from repairing and reimbursing the damages she and the thieves had caused taking the gem pieces. Naruto frowned. The event seemed like a lifetime ago. Shaking off the depression, he smiled as he neared Lori's door. He banged on it joyfully calling out. "Hey Lori, get up already! I've got an awesome day planned…" His voice faltered as the door slowly cracked open on its own.<p>

Cautiously he entered the room preparing himself for some sort of attack. He quickly dropped his guard after looking around though. The bed was made neatly and the closet was completely bare. The refrigerator had been cleared out and all the drawers were empty. Lori was gone. Sitting down on the bed, Naruto realized he wasn't even angry. A part of him still felt sad though. He had known she would be gone for awhile repairing the damages her team had made, but he had hoped maybe she would decide to stay afterward. He guessed that was too much to hope for. It was too much for anyone to ask her to stay. As he was about to leave he noticed something folded on the bedside table. Unfolding it he realized it had his name written in big letters. He began to read.

Dear Naruto,

My friend, after much requesting Lady Tsunade agreed to let me roam the world with my team after we finish repairing the damage we caused. In exchange she has declared us an independent group able to be called upon by the Leaf and its allies if we are ever needed. I know the prince wanted the princess to stay. That's the ending I give all the kids, but I think we both knew I was never going to. I guess I'm more like my brothers than I thought. After everything that happened I still couldn't go to the compound like I wanted to, but you know what? That's ok. Turns out I didn't need the closure from there like I thought I did. I'm happy that everyone was willing to let me rejoin the leaf village, but I can't stay. You understand. My team is my family now. My knights that saved me from loneliness. They have been for a long time. It's about time I returned the favor. I belong with them. I would've stuck around to say goodbye, but you know how much I hate sad endings. So for now I'll just say see you later. I'll be running just like always, and you'll be chasing the Hokage title just like always. Have fun with your training. I'll see you around. – Lori

P.S. Tallah says not to let the Kyuubi run you over. He's really a big softy. She also wrote something else on the back, but she wouldn't let me read it.

Naruto smiled turning the letter over in his hand. He folded the paper neatly then and tucked it into his pocket. **"That **** dragon!"** The Kyuubi raged.** "How dare she call me a softy! I'll skin her! I'll maim her! I'll…" **Naruto conked his head to try and shut the fox up and said, "Dude what is your problem? It's not like she was your girlfriend or anything." The fox was surprisingly shocked into silence. Wow it had never been that easy to get him to stop…wait a second. "Did you two…?" **"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING YOU ****ING BRAT!" **Naruto guffawed teasing the fox mercilessly about his old girlfriend incapacitating him for well over a the very real threat of being eaten from his very peeved Bijuu, Naruto ran out of the hotel laughing all the way to Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

><p>Lori smiled at the birds chirping around her. They had left to head for the Sand Village early that morning. Lady Tsunade was fine with them not having an escort as long as Gaara vouched for them arriving at the appointed time. "Aw man!" Ryu piped up from behind her. "I can't make heads or tails of this map." Tia sighed. "Our glorious leader useless as usual." Ryu glared at her getting into a heated argument. Riyu laughed taking the map from his brother's hand. "Hey Airi," he said handing it to their medic. "Point us in the right direction." Airi glanced it over looking up and turning her body to the left. "That way." She smiled pointing. Riyu laughed again as this started Tia on a whole new tangent about how they had been going in the wrong direction, and it would take them twice as long to get there. "Hey Lori," Al said. He discreetly grabbed Airi's hand as he walked up next to her. Lori quirked an eyebrow. She'd be asking her friend about that later. "We've got a long way to go." He continued smiling. "Tell us a story." Tia and Ryu quieted down at the request. Airi giggled at their attentive silence. Riyu just smiled making her blush a little. She thought about everything that happened over the last month and Victoria's last words. <em>"Why can't I stay?"<em> Lori smiled. She could stay. Not as the depraved person she had become, but the person she had once been. They could tell her and Yore's story to the next Guardian of the Gate of Light. Because as long as there's a story nothing is truly ever gone is it? "Once upon a time…" she began.

* * *

><p>Dear Naruto,<p>

You once asked Lori why she loved telling stories so much. She never answered you, so I will because I want you to understand. All of our lives are stories. We live and breathe them. They're what shape our hopes and dreams and give us something outside of ourselves to believe in. Sometimes they're full of love and joy, and sometimes they're full of anger and hate. Not all stories have a happy ending, but they don't all have to have a sad ending either. Sometimes the stories are hard to sort through, but when you step back and look at all the pieces you can put them together one by one and make a story that is truly worth telling. The rest of your life is chapters just waiting to be told. How you live those chapters is really up to you. – Tallah

* * *

><p><strong>(1) I saw her closure with the Uchiha clan as resolving her guilt towards Sasuke for leaving him alone. I never really got a chance to explore their relationship in Secret Friend of the Past so I wanted to do it here. I know the confrontation must seem a little out of character, but I couldn't see him attacking or threatening the sister he just found out was actually alive. The incident doesn't overall affect him because he's been without her for years so in a way it's closure for both of them. He gets to say goodbye and she gets to say goodbye for now.<strong>

**(2) Since she has a Bijuu it stood to reason in my mind that she would've come across Itachi and been able to tell him directly that she forgave him.**

**Last words because this story has been my baby for a long time:**

**When I first thought of this story I had just finished watching Full Metal Alchemist as well its counterpart Brotherhood. I had also just finished reading Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. The latter is a manga centered on the idea of its main characters hoping through several different parallel dimensions in order to ultimately save the universe. Saying this, though Brotherhood is my favorite out of the two, I enjoyed the different aspects both Full Metal Alchemist animes brought out in regards to human nature and the idea that the price for using alchemy in their world was impending disaster in ours. **

**I had been toying with the idea of writing a fanfiction for awhile. I already knew my character Lori, and I knew I wanted her to be Sasuke's twin as well as a Bijuu. I wanted a story with a good female that I could relate too better than Sakura and some of the other females in Masashi Kishimoto's series. I often felt at the end of the day that his female characters from the academy were too romance driven and I wanted a female character with an agenda that centered on friendship and goals rather than doing everything it takes to get the guy so I made a new one.**

**I admire the people who take the time to re-write the whole series in order to insert their OCs, but I'm not one who has the patience for that sort of thing. I wanted to write something new that would blend in with the craziness of the manga while not actually affecting the story too much as a whole. Obviously I changed the Bijuu and Sage of Six Paths origin, but other than that I wanted to stay true to most of the lore. I wanted her to be someone important, but not so important that the characters were heavily affected by her impending absence at the end of the story. **

**By the end of my process I knew these things. I was going to have a grand total of 9 OCs, I wanted the story to semi cross over with FMA/FMAB, Lorienn Uchiha was going to be my main characters name, Tallah was going to be her dragon Bijuu, Victoria was going to die no matter what happened, and at the end Lori was going to leave the leaf village for good. The guardians were centered on the ultimate idea from FMA/FMAB that everything has a price. It stood to reason that if there was such a realm as Truth's there had to be a system set up in each to dimension to keep everything in its rightful place or to eradicate it if it didn't belong. It also stood to reason that this principle of price applied to everything, even human life. This effectively set up my villain and gave a valid reason for Naruto having a childhood friend he had no memory of. The back story in Orochimaru's mines also gave me the freedom to explain the difference between her 16 year old personality and her 8 year old one from my "Secret Friend of the Past" prequel fic. **

**I had a harder time with Lori than I thought I would originally. As I wrote the original rough draft that most of you first read on here, I began to hate how my character was written. She was irritating, rough, abrasive, and there was honestly not one good reason for her to keep any information from her team. That's when I realized I was writing her too much like Sasuke. Sasuke is a vengeful and somewhat sassy character. While I wanted to make her his twin, I did not want a female clone of him. That's where the inspiration for my new version of Lori came from. She had grown up outside the leaf village and it stood to reason she wouldn't have the same abilities as Sasuke seeing as there was no Kakashi around to teach her how to use the Sharingan. She had grown up in a slave camp for most of her life, and she had to travel from place to place to keep from being ultimately caught by Danzo. Reika Mura, who was briefly mentioned, would ultimately train her on how to use basic jutsu and jutsu unique to the guardians. I've always found traveling bards interesting so I made her a storyteller. It also stood to reason that if she was the holder of a Bijuu she would've encountered the Akasuki and ultimately Itachi. I also dropped the original love relationship between her and Riyu in favor of a close friendship that could eventually turn into a romance in the future, just not in this story. **

**I ultimately decided that her driving factor would be shame. A person would hold a lot of shame after pretty much being a slave for most of her childhood, especially after accidently killing her friend. A person like this would also try to find meaning in stories stemming from the lack of purpose she feels in her own life. I wanted the Sharingan to be a source of the shame for her as it was acquired through her friend's blood unintentionally making it rare for her to even touch the technique. **

**I wanted the relationship between her and Naruto to be like a princess and a knight in the sense that she was waiting for him, as her oldest friend, to confirm her decisions and ultimately save her from her problems. Naruto along with Tallah ultimately shatters this notion and instead helps her take responsibility for those actions. Her victory is when she finally realizes she can't change the fact that Yore died by her hand, and she can take the help that is being given by Naruto and Tallah to fix her mistake and ultimately kill Victioria. She conquers her guilt and is able to see the things she has (the thieves), let go of the things that she left behind without even realizing it (the leaf village, naruto, sasuke, etc.), and move forward with a new self-confidence and a new story. **

**I'm overall happy with my results in writing this story and I hope you all enjoyed the tale as much as I enjoyed writing it. **


End file.
